Some Assembly Required
by Mac n' Meez
Summary: Re-publishing of the original. WRITTEN BEFORE THE MOVIE CAME OUT. Loki has his heart set on world domination, and nothing, not even his brother and those silly Avengers, can stop him. Bruce/OC and Loki/OC.
1. Author's Apology

_**AN: This whole thing right here is going to be an author's note, because I owe some people some apologies and some explanations. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, and are just terribly confused and would like to just go ahead and get to the story, skip this bit, because it doesn't apply to you.**_

**So, yes, let's start with that apology: I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I left without explanation, I'm sorry I took everything down without warning, and I really am so, so sorry. I really needed to focus, and I really felt like I needed something of a clean slate if I was going to clear my head (which is kind of what I left to do). That doesn't excuse anything, though. You all have been so wonderful to me, all of you, and I've been horrible in return. I'm sorry. I should have given you a warning, and I should ****_not _****have taken everything I'd written down. I got several PMs from you all asking why I'd done it, and saying that you were sad that I had, and somewhat angry, and that meant a lot to me, and I felt even worse than I already did. You guys really are great. **

**I'm back, now, though. I've settled in, and I'm back. It may be a while before I'm writing again, but over the course of this weekend, I'll be doing my best to repost everything I took down. I'll be starting with this series (and will hopefully be editing it because it's bad and my first try at fanfiction and we aren't even going to talk about character development OK), and then move on to "Sound the Bugle", and "Something to Avenge" will be added back in somewhere in there. And before anyone asks, yes, this is Mac. The Mac. Honest, it is. **

**Again, I'm sorry. I'm not apologizing because anyone guilted me into it, but because I really ****_am _****sorry. You guys handled this excellently, and you've always been way too nice and great to me, and I really appreciate that more than you know. Thank you. Thank you all so much.**

**- Mac**


	2. Prologue

**Prologue**

Carter McIntyre crossed her arms over her chest and stared down the SHIELD agent. "You know, I'd feel better about this if I didn't have to stand _behind_ it."

Coulson just gave her his usual tight (and somewhat disturbing) smile, and then continued to load his gun. With a roll of her eyes, Carter stuck her hands out in front of her, forming a thin, light green force-field, just like she'd done a million times before.

"Just relax," Coulson said as he took aim.

"That's what dentists say before they rip your teeth out," Carter muttered under her breath. This time, it was Coulson's turn to roll his eyes. "Or before you get ra-"

Without warning, the agent pulled the trigger three times in a row. Carter winced each time the bullets made impact, like she was sure each one was going to go right through the force-field and hit her. Instead, they bounced off of the green circle and hit the floor harmlessly.

Carter let out a sigh of relief. "OK, it's bullet proof." Even to her own ears, she sounded a little wired. What could she say? Being shot at was nerve-racking. "Would you like to shoot me with a flamethrower next? Maybe some missiles or, I dunno, throw a couple of sledgehammers?"

"No," Coulson replied, "you're free to go."

The young woman nodded and strode out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. training room. _Stupid "limit" tests_, she thought to herself. _One of these days, they're gonna kill you. Actually, they're probably _trying _to kill you..._

Before she'd gotten five feet away from the room, she was attacked by a red blur. Carter instantly knew who was attached to that mass of practically orange hair.

"How'd it go?" Lily asked brightly.

"Well," Carter told her sister, "I didn't die today, so... good."

Lily reached up and tucked a stray strand of hair behind Carter's ear, an old habit she had yet to break. Carter always felt like her sister was babying her. "I don't like the idea of them shooting at you," Lily said with a small frown.

"I wasn't too keen on it, either."

"No, really. What if the bullet had gone through?" Lily wrapped her arm around her sister's waist. "You could have gotten really hurt."

Carter just raised an eyebrow, making Lily let out a laugh. "Yeah, good point. You can stop airplanes, a bullet isn't going to hurt you."

"There you go," Carter said, patting her sister on the shoulder. "Glad you put that together. You truly are the genius SHIELD hired you to be."

"Hey, hey, hey," Lily replied. "I'm the number one researcher here. Something I do might save your life, little Ms. Avenger." When Carter snorted, Lily continued, "We're the ones designing your costume. Unless you want to look like the Tooth Fairy, you should be nicer to us."

"If you make me look stupid," Carter warned, "I will lock you all in a bubble."

Lily just laughed, thinking it was an empty threat. Little did she know that Carter actually _had _been practicing locking things inside her force-fields. "OK, well, I've got to go. Some of us actually have to work."

"See ya." Carter gave a lazy, two-fingered salute to her sister and walked down a different tunnel.

Carter stopped and turned around to watch her sister go, leaning against the steel wall as she did. It was a force of habit; Lily hadn't _really_ needed for anyone to keep an eye on her in long time, but Carter could still remember the days when her sister would collapse of exhaustion, the sickness having drained her of all her strength.

* * *

_"Carter." Lily pushed a strand of her little sister's hair out of her face. "You don't have to do this for me. I'll get better."_

_"No, you won't," Carter said, frowning. "Not unless you take Dad's medicine."_

_Lily let out a weak laugh that almost immediately turned to violent coughing. Carter hovered over her sister, unsure of what to do. She looked horrible; her face was white and hollowed out, there were dark circles under her eyes, and sweat plastered her hair to her forehead. Lily tried to wave Carter away._

_"I'm fine," she rasped. "But, Carter, we don't know if Daddy's medicine will work."_

_Carter screwed up her little face, trying to look firm and determined at the same time. "Exactly."_

_She could picture the violent green serum that her dad had created just the other morning. Even though it was supposed to do the same thing, this one was different than the others; people were scared of it. They didn't know what the effects would be. But it had been Carter's idea to make a stronger serum. Plus, if there was one thing she had learned for watching her dad in the lab, it was that if people were scared of something you did, you'd made it right._

_Carter wasn't afraid. She knew it would work._

_"Look," Lily pleaded. "I'm going to get better. I feel stronger."_

_"You're still a horrible liar."_

_Lily sighed and looked out the window of her small hospital room. "I know."_

_"Don't worry, Lily. This will make you stronger." Carter moved to the door. "A lot stronger."_

_Of course it would. Her dad had called it a 'super-solider serum'. What could be stronger than a super-solider?_

* * *

Without realizing it, Carter had begun to rub her arm where those stupid doctors had injected the serum. Sometimes when those memories came to her, the pain did, too. And those needles had _really _hurt.

Carter didn't regret her choice, though. It had been to make sure her big sister was safe. The only part that bothered her was how different they looked now. Carter could still remember when people would look at her and Lily and know they were sisters. Now, they just asked if they _knew_ each other.

The two McIntyre girls still had the same heart-shaped face and wide eyes, but that was about it. Lily was pale and delicate, with bright blue eyes, sort of like a little doll. Carter, on the other hand, looked much healthier; taller, relatively muscular, and tan. The serum had done that. It had also changed her once blue eyes to a vivd neon green color that tended to scare the crap out of people, which was why Carter wore her aviators most of the time.

Upon seeing Lily safely turn the corner, Carter continued down her chosen hallway. She _thought _she was headed back to her room, but even after a two weeks at the SHIELD HQ, she still had no idea where anything was.

For example, the other day, she'd walked in on a very angry guy beating up some poor, defenseless punching bag. While finding another work-out room was probably a good thing (Ha! Like she'd ever _really_ go to the gym...), she had actually been looking for the lab. So, all and all, not really a success.

Carter'd been walking along for less than a minute when she heard someone coming up behind her.

"McIntyre."

She whirled around to see Nick Fury storming down the hallway. She could never really tell if he was angry, but the eyepatch and permeant scowl always made him seem that way. With the billowing black cape, he reminded her of Severus Snape, stalking the hallways at Hogwarts.

"Sir?" Carter asked with an eyebrow raised.

A smile crept across Fury's face. A smile? Since when did Fury _smile_? And what would he smile _for_? Surely not puppies and rainbows and and the like; he really seemed more like the type to smile at the idea of mass murder. Scared for her life, Carter took a small step back, eyeing the man as she did.

He let out a low chuckle at her reaction. "It's time to assemble."


	3. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

Tony had always been proud of his ability to bring the party with him wherever he went. A room full of old congress people? Forget the bill and let's get down! Some facility with high-up military guys? Even Rhodey would crack a smile. Yep, Tony could get a party going just about anywhere.

The one exception was, _apparently_, a SHIELD briefing room that was completely empty except for Tony and this huge dude who had introduced himself as "Thor".

Of course Tony had tried to get things started. He'd introduced himself, made some jokes about Fury, some jokes about Coulson, some jokes about SHIELD, the economy, and even the weather. Yes, Tony Stark had resorted to talking about the _weather_.

Thor had only stared at him and grunted. Tony wouldn't normally have been all that concerned about the grumpy looking guy, but this particular guy was wearing full medieval battle armor and clutching a hammer like it was a really hot girl; he clearly had no intention of letting it go. It was making Tony just a little nervous.

The billionaire was about to try to strike up another conversation when a set of doors opened. In stepped a man who look just as happy to be here as Thor was. His eyes darted around the small room and he absentmindedly fiddled with his watch. His face, though it had changed and aged a little since the last time Tony had seen it, was extremely familiar.

Tony crossed the room with a smile on his face that grew larger when the other man's eyes widened in recognition. Tony stuck out his hand. With a bit of hesitation, the man took it.

"Dr. Banner," Tony greeted while he shook Bruce Banner's hand enthusiastically, "you're work is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into a enormous green rage monster."

Banner blinked. "Thanks," he replied with a tight smile.

On the other side of the room, Thor had turned his attention to them. "'Enormous green rage monster'?" he asked. With his head cocked to the side, he looked a bit like a lost puppy.

"You don't know this guy?" Tony asked incredulously. Thor slowly shook his head.

"This," Tony explained, wrapping an arm around Banner (who cringed... not that Tony noticed), "is Bruce Banner, the Incredible Hulk. Oh, and Dr. Banner, that's Thor."

Thor still looked hopelessly lost. Tony sighed and shook his head. "You really haven't heard of him? I'm sure you have. You know, giant green thing, tears up cities? Last seen destroying Harlem? Still, nothing? Well, let me tell you, it's pretty damn cool."

"Yeah..." Banner muttered. At the sound another set of doors opening, Banner perked up and slipped out from under Tony's arm to go greet the newcomer with much more gusto than when he'd greeted Tony.

It was a girl. _Woman_, Tony corrected himself. _Definitely a woman_. He took in her reflective aviators, white tank top, and combats boots. _Correction again. A _badass _woman. _She ran a hand through her curly brown hair and Tony imagined that under her sunglasses, she was looking around the room.

"Hi," Banner said. He smiled politely and held out his hand. "I'm Bruce Banner."

The woman took his hand. "Nice to meet you, Dr. Banner."

"Did you guys plan to wear matching watches?" Tony interrupted as he came forward. The woman looked down at her wrist and immediately shoved her hand into her pocket.

"Did I miss the memo or something?" Tony stopped right in front of her and gave her his most charming smile. "I didn't catch your name."

The woman's brows dipped below the rims of her sunglasses. "Carter McIntyre."

"Hmm." Tony tapped his chin in thought. "Can't say I've heard of you."

"Well, I've heard of you," she replied, shifting her weight so that she was standing straight and at the same height as Tony. "You're Tony Stark."

"That I am."

"You're the consultant for the team, right?" A grin crossed her face.

Tony opened and closed his mouth several times before simply responding with a semi-flustered, "Yeah."

Naturally, a second later, a halfway decent remark came to him. "You know, they say only two types of people wear sunglasses indoors," he said with a smirk.

She smirked right back. "And I would fall under the medically-challenged category."

"Oh." Tony rubbed the back of his neck. "Not awkward. Not awkward it we don't let it be awkward."

Carter looked like she might explode - not from anger, but from the laughter she was struggling to hold back. "It's not _my _health they're worried about," she told him with a huge grin. She seemed to think for a minute before calmly pushing her sunglasses up and wearing them like a headband.

Banner jumped about a foot in the air. His eyes were wide and locked on hers, mouth slightly opened. A strangled noise mixed in with an already present beeping sound that came from his watch. "G-g-g-" he stammered.

"I think," Tony said, struggling to keep his voice from betraying his real feelings, which were pretty close to the stunned scientist's, "that he's trying to tell you that your eyes _glow_."

It was true. Her eyes were a neon green that sort of screamed 'unnatural' or 'toxic' or 'made in China'.

Carter shrugged like that was perfectly normal. "Gamma will do that you."

"_Gamma_?" Banner finally got out. The beeping noise increased in speed.

"Yes, that radio active stuff that makes you Hulk out." Carter crossed her arms over her chest. "Doesn't do that to me though, so please. _Breathe_."

Banner nodded. Eyes squeezed shut, he grabbed onto the back of a chair and breathed deeply. The beeping noise slowed considerably and eventually came to a complete halt.

"Told you it wasn't me they were worried about," Carter said under her breath, just loud enough for Tony to hear. A smile crossed both of their faces.

Tony clapped his hands together. "Well, we've had quite a bit of excitement today, haven't we?" He didn't notice Banner glare at him and Thor give him a blank look. "As consultant," Tony continued, "I'd have to advise that we keep the fun to a minimum for now."

After no reaction, Tony burst out laughing. "OK, you got me. Seriously, let's get this party started!"

"Not today, Stark."

None of them had heard Fury enter the room. He stood in the door and glared at them, before stepping aside in a rather dramatic fashion. "This is Steve Rogers," he informed them all.

To put it simply, Steve Rogers could give big, hulking (Tony mentally winced at horrible, unintentional pun.) Thor a run for his money. The guy was a little less muscular, and a little shorter, but he looked around the room with a more critical gaze. He seemed way older than the twenty-something he probably was. And with a really bad haircut and plaid shirt sleeve-less shirt that was _actually tucked in_, he dressed like he was way older than his twenties. He radiated this clean-cut, blonde haired, blue-eyed American kid vibe that Tony immediately didn't like.

Next to Tony, Carter let out a low whistle. "How ya been, Cap?" she asked in an amused tone.

Steve blinked rapidly. "How...?"

Carter looked like she would be _way_ more than happy to explain, but Fury cut her off with a glare and a warning, "McIntyre. Stop scaring the recruits."

"So, asking for some his blood would be bad?" she challenged. Tony couldn't help but notice that everything she did seemed a little sarcastic, a little insincere. And a grin was almost always on her face. He was pretty sure he liked that.

Steve looked like he was doing his best fish-out-of-water impression. "Wh-What?"

"_McIntyre_," Fury growled. "Stop, or you'll be put on the consultant list with Stark here." Carter raised her hands in surrender.

Tony saw this as the perfect opportunity. "Actually," he said in his most business-like tone, "I've been meaning to talk to you about my position-"

"You're Howard's son."

Tony turned to Steve with a look of shock and annoyance. Seriously. He was a grown man. He'd done a lot in his time. He was _freaking_ Iron Man. Why did some people still refer to him as Howard Stark's son? And how did this Steve guy know? Most people around Steve's age _worshipped _Tony. They had no idea who his dad was.

"Yes," Tony replied tightly. "I'm Howard Stark's son. Did he fire you're parents once or something? Because that's how most people know him."

Steve placed his hands behind his back and stood in a perfect solider position. Tony hated perfect. And most soldiers. Steve looked him right in the eye. "Howard was one of my closest friends."

"Um," Tony replied, "yeah. No. See, my dad sort of hated kids, so there's no way he would have let you near him, let alone get close enough to touch him or make any sort of contact with him. No contact generally has a negative effect on friendships. Even imaginary ones."

Steve was clearly taken aback. He was about to say something when Banner suddenly spoke.

"Wait." He was looking at Carter. "_That _Captain Steve Rogers?"

Carter nodded. "The very same," she confirmed.

Banner's eyes grew wide. He stepped forward and offered his hand. "Hi. I'm Bruce Banner. I, well, I know this is a bit weird, but I'm a huge fan. And, um, about that blood sample Ms. McIntyre mentioned earlier - "

"_Banner_," Fury snapped. "You're on the same track as McIntyre is right now.

Banner dropped his hand. He glared at Fury with such, well, _fury_ that Tony was a little startled. The beeping noise from earlier started up again.

"I don't even _want _to be here!" he seethed. "You're making me put everyone here in danger, and that's not something I want to do! I'd be much happier as a consultant! Let Tony take my place on the team, I don't want it!"

The silence that followed was interrupted only by the beeping noise, which seemed to slow as Banner's breathing did. With a start, Tony realized that it was a miniature heart-rate monitor. Which, most likely, made Carter's a heart rate monitor, too.

When the beeping had all but stopped, Fury spoke. "No," he said firmly. "We need you, Banner. And like it or not, you need us; you won't have access to our laboratory as a consultant."

Still obviously furious, Banner sat down stiffly in one of the chairs. He nodded once, then stared at his hands in his lap.

"Now," Fury said. "We've gathered you all here for a reason." He eyed (Ahahaha! Tony cracked himself up sometimes!) them all before launching into something of a speech.

"There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people, so when we needed them, they could fight the battles that we never could. And on that day unlike any other day, Earth's mightiest heroes would find themselves united against a common threat. They would fight the foes no single superhero could withstand. And on that day, the Avengers would be born.

"Gentleman. McIntyre. Today is that day."

Tony raised his hand, but didn't wait for Fury to call on or even notice him. "Yeah, hate to rain on the whole super-secret boy-band parade, but, uh, I don't know half of these people. I mean, they're not heroes... are they?"

Fury snorted. "Are they heroes..." he mocked.

"That's actually still up for debate with me," Carter offered. Tony looked at her skeptically, and she explained. "I blew up a plane when I was eight... saved a city from a terrorist attack, but I blew up a plane, so..."

"And that would make you... who?" Tony asked.

Carter gave him a small smug smile. "I believe they called me Safegaurd."

"Oh!" Tony exclaimed. "I actually _have _heard of you! My bad. Geesh, you've been laying low for a while, haven't you?"

"I think the technical term for what I was doing is 'running from the law'."

Tony turned back to Fury. "Well now I'm curious. Who's who?"

"You know Banner. And you've already met Thor," Fury said, gesturing to the huge blonde man who looked up at the sound of his name. "But I doubt that he mentioned that he was _the _Thor, the god of thunder."

Tony's eyes grew wide. So he had been right to be a little afraid of this big scary dude and his hammer. What was that thing called again? Mjolnir. But it was pronounced, 'meow-meow'. Tony was certain of that. Tony reached over and patted Thor heavily muscled arm. "You got a mean swing."

Fury rolled his eye and continued down the line of heroes. "And this is Captain Steve Rogers, better known as Captain America."

"Oh." That was really all Tony could think of? 'Oh'? _C'mon, Stark. This is freaking Captain America! You used to have _underwear _with his face on it! Say something cooler than that_. "I guess that explains the god-awful haircut."

Steve looked offended, and Tony mentally face-palmed. When you meet your childhood hero, you do _not _insult them. This was pretty much basic advice - and Tony had completely ignored it. Oops.

"You know," Steve said a little bitterly, "Howard was a great man." Captain America hadn't meant it as an insult, but Tony treated it as such.

"I'm not my father." Tony narrowed his eyes. "My dad is dead. Gone. You won't find him in me, so don't even bother looking."

"Gentleman," barked Fury in an attempt to stop the fighting before it really started. "We have business to attend to. Sit."

Everyone who was standing sat. The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife. Fury let out a deep breath, and pushed a button on a remote that he had produced from his pocket.

The room grew dark and a screen lowered on the far wall. Pictures of a pretty screwed up town appeared on screen. Cars were turned over, most of the place was on fire, and there were several large craters in the middle of the road. Next to him, Tony felt Thor stiffen.

"This is was taken a year ago in New Mexico," Fury told them. He clicked the remote again.

The next picture was of a giant metal robot. It was sleek, huge, and very high-tech. Higher-tech than anything Tony had ever made. Tony thought it was sort of like his version of modern art; he could have made something like that, but he didn't. And he was a little disappointed that he hadn't thought to do it.

"The damage you just saw was done by this," Fur continued. "This is known as the Destroyer. It's an ancient warrior that does the biding of the King of Asgard, Thor's realm. Normally, the King of Asgard is Odin. But this was sent to Earth during the short time that Loki was on the throne."

When the image changed this time, the quality did two. It was clear that this picture had been taken by some sort of security camera. Tony thought it was the inside of a Walmart. The picture was a close up of a tall, pale man in full battle armor like Thor's.

"This is Loki. Loki is Thor's brother, and sent to the Destroyer to kill Thor last year in New Mexico. We've been searching for him for several months now, ever since he made his presence known to us."

Next a bright blue box came onto the screen.

"Badassium!" Tony exclaimed, immediately recognizing the element he had discovered (with a little help from his dad) in front of him. At the same time, Steve muttered, "The cube."

"You're both correct," Fury told them, though he seemed to be addressing Steve more than Tony. "We've been calling it the Cosmic Cube. It's power is unlimited - if you can figure out how to tap it. We'd been researching it's potential when Loki broke in and attempted to steal it. He was stopped, but disappeared before we could do anything else. Before he left, though, he said that we were made to be ruled. We believe that he may be trying to take over the world. "

"That's original," Carter muttered.

Tony raised his hand again. "Would this have anything to do with how Cleveland was pretty much burned to the ground last week?"

"This has everything to do that," Fury confirmed. "Fortunately, Loki has been... captured. We've brought him in for questioning."

"Well, then, why are we here?" There was more than a hint of annoyance in Banner's voice.

Fury gave them all a glare before replying, "Because it would be unlike Loki to not have a back-up plan. We believe that the worst has yet to come."

"I love hanging around optimists," Carter announced sarcastically. "You guys always make me feel good."

Fury flipped the lights back on. "Whatever is coming," he said, "will not be stopped easily. It will be your job to stop it."

Carter shook her head. "I didn't sign up for this."

"Neither did I," Bruce said. "I was brought here against my will."

"As much fun as being in the super-secret boy-band has been," Tony agreed, "I'm not so sure I'd like to continue touring with you guys. Even if I'm just a consultant."

Fury let out a growl. "You don't much of a choice. Stark, McIntyre, and Banner, you all can be sent to jail for a _very_ long time for all the damage you've done to public property. Or you can stay here. Rogers, you are still a member of the U.S. Army; you do what we tell you to. Thor... this is your brother."

"And I shall stay to help," Thor said in his deep voice. "As you've said, this is my brother. I - " he broke off and stared out the window. "Loki," he breathed.

The others turned to look at what had stunned Thor into silence. Tony frowned.

It was the man from the Walmart video. He was surrounded by SHIELD agents as he walked down the hallway, a perfectly peaceful expression on his face. With his slicked back black hair and straight, pointed nose, he was more elegant that Thor. He radiated power and... evil. Tony shivered a little. As if sensing that their eyes were on him, Loki turned his head towards the window. A malicious little grin crossed his face.

Tony had a bad feeling about this.


	4. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

It broke her heart. All of it. Seeing him so hurt, so hopeless. Seeing him angry and upset. And this. Seeing those SHIELD agents take him away. Tear welled up in her eyes.

_Oh, Loki_, Lily thought helplessly as she watched him be escorted past. Without thinking, she touched the glass that separated them as though she was touching his perfect, smooth face. He looked up and turned his green gaze on her. With one reassuring smile, Lily felt her heart swell. There was hope. He knew what he was doing. He'd told her as much.

* * *

_"Honey?" Lily asked softly._

_Loki was standing in the living room of their small apartment, staring at the TV. On screen, the director of SHIELD, Lily's boss, Nick Fury, was giving a public announcement._

_"It has come to our attention," Fury said, "that a previously unknown party is attempting to wage war on this world. I am here today to assure you all that you are perfectly safe. And now," he continued, "I address this party. We know who you are. We _will _come for you. And when we do, you _will _be overpowered. Surrender now, or start a battle that you cannot win."_

_Loki reached down to the coffee table and picked up the remote. The TV flickered off, leaving the room to be lit by only the light of the moon._

_Lily took a step towards her husband. As if sensing her, he spoke._

_"You know what I must do," he whispered._

_"No, please." She took his arm. "Don't. You can't turn yourself in. I don't know what they'll do, but it won't be good. Please. Just stay here. Forget about everything else. They'll leave you alone if you just drop it."_

_Loki turned and wrapped his arms around her. Despite everything, Lily felt safe in his strong embrace. She could stay here, pressed against his cold skin, forever. Loki leaned down and out his lips to her forehead. "But they won't. I have to give myself up, darling, or they'll come for me. They'll hurt you, too. And I won't let them do that."_

_"But... but what about the baby?" Lily instinctively placed a hand on her bloated stomach. For eleven months she'd been married to Loki. For eight months, she'd been pregnant with his child. It had been one of the best years of her life. "I want our baby to grow up with a father."_

_"And I want him to simply grow up," Loki replied. He lowered himself to his knees and kiss her stomach. "I cannot guarantee his safety - or yours - unless I hand myself over to SHIELD. You must understand. I hate the thought of being separated from you more than you will ever know, but I must do this. And you," he paused to stand. With one hand he pulled her closer, and with the other, he tilted her chin upward. "You must keep faith that one day we will be reunited."_

_Lily choked back tears. She didn't want to let him go. She didn't want to risk that he might be hurt. All she wanted was him. With her. Why couldn't he see that?_

_But she knew there was no changing his mind. "All right," she said shakily. "_Please _- be safe."_

_Loki kissed her then, and Lily's mind went blank. There was nothing like his kisses. He left her feeling confused and loved and ecstatic. He felt so good against her hot skin. She tried to get closer, but her stomach got in the way. This was one of the only times when she hated being pregnant - when it got between her and her husband._

_Loki pulled back and gave her a reassuring smile. "I'll be back."_

_With that, he took a step back into the darkness and disappeared. _

_Lily bit her lip to keep the tears from flowing. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, trying to slow her panicked breathing. She had the feeling that she might never see her husband again._

* * *

Just the memory of the night before brought tears to her eyes. Lily blinked rapidly and placed one hand on her now flat stomach.

Loki had enchanted her wardrobe so that the clothes she wore would not reveal that she was pregnant. He was a wanted criminal; they weren't supposed to even be in contact, much less be married and expecting. Fury would fire her for sure, and then bring her in for questioning. Loki had only sought to stop the from happening. He could be really sweet when he wanted to.

Lily watched his retreating figure. She let out a long sigh and forced herself to keep moving; if she stopped now, she might not ever get going again. She'd just curl up and cry, right there in the middle of the hallway. And that, seeing that she was in the middle of a giant military base, would be a very bad thing.

When Lily turned the corner, she saw her sister coming. Immediately, she tried to turn around, not wanting to face Carter like this. Lily prayed she hadn't noticed.

"Hey!" Carter called. She jogged to catch up with her. "How was wor - Wait, what's up?"

Lily knew how she must look; red-eyed, red-nosed, red-faced. The three 'R's that would give her away. Of course Carter had noticed. "Oh, you know," Lily replied lamely. "The sky."

"No, seriously. What's wrong?" Carter furred her brows and touched her sister gently on the arm. "Tell me."

Lily looked up into her sister's bright green eyes and cringed. She couldn't lie; a) it would make her feel awful and b) it's be pointless because Carter would know. Maybe she could just pretended to be clueless... no, that'd be useless, too. What if she just didn't answer? Sure, her sister was typically relentless, but maybe this once Carter would just give up. Plus, if need be, there were tons of places around the SHIELD compound that she Lily could hide.

"It was Loki, wasn't it?"

Damn! How did she know? "What are you talking about?"

"Lily." Carter her gave her that _I'm not stupid _look. "I remember him, and I'm really sure you do, too."

Lily could only nod. How could she forget Loki? Her savior, her husband? The father of her unborn child? Without meaning to, Lily placed a protective hand over her stomach.

Carter gasped, and Lily realized her mistake. God, why did she have to have a smart sister? Why couldn't Carter be an idiot?

"Oh my..." Carter just stared at her sister. "Jesus Christ! You're pregnant, aren't you? Who did it? Was it Stark? I swear to God, I'll kill him - "

"No. It wasn't Stark." Lily's eyes wandered to the now empty hallway. She could still picture them taking Loki away, still see that confident smile. He knew he was going to be OK. She wasn't as sure.

"Oh my freaking-" Carter stopped short. Wide-eyed, she took several steps back from Lily, like she was poison. "You... with _him_? _Lily_! What the hell? You work for effing SHIELD! You know what he's done! You know he's evil! You... you _knew_! You knew where he was! And you said nothing! _How could you_?"

"He's not evil!" Lily shouted back. She couldn't stand anyone insulting Loki like that; it was all untrue. "He's lost. You don't understand. _They _don't understand. No one understands! He's just so broken and lost and... I had to help him. He was hurt, Carter. He came to me for help. He needed me!"

"He needed you to _sleep _with him?"

Lily just laughed. There was no humor in it. She looked at her furious, unbelieving sister and shook her head. "I love him. And he loves me. We're married."

"You... you..." Carter broke off to look at her watch. The beeping noise had been rising this whole time and was now a continuous string. With a growl, Carter tore it off her wrist and threw it to the ground. After a few deep breaths, she looked back to Lily. "Do you know what you've _done_?" she hissed. "By not turning him in earlier, you've endangered the entire freaking human race! I don't what he's told you, about changing and being good and all that crap, but he's lying to you Lily. He's using you! And you're too blind to see it!"

"I can see perfectly fine," Lily snapped. "He's not lying to me. He would never do that." _He loves me. He wouldn't lie to me._

Carter waved arms in the air. "_He's the god of lying! Of course he's lying to you!_"

"Shut up!" Without realizing what she was doing, Lily pushed her sister back. Never in her lifetime, not once, had she used violence against Carter. "Shut up! You know nothing about him! _Nothing_!"

Carter squeezed her eyes shut. Lily could tell that she was struggling to keep her face from betraying her emotions. Her chest rose and fell heavily.

"Leave," she finally got out. "Go. Now."

As much as it hurt her to see her little sister in pain, and as much as she wanted to comfort her, Lily was glad that Carter had said that. She just couldn't stay there any longer. The tears were coming back. _Damn pregnancy hormones_, she thought bitterly.

Lily spun around on her heel and practically fled from the scene.

Even from several tunnels away, she could hear her sister's anguished cry and the sound of crunching metal.

* * *

Bruce Banner was not happy.

He wasn't in full-out Hulk mode, though; he was just seriously annoyed. First, they try and recruit him. When that doesn't work and he turns into a giant monster, they shoot him with a bunch of tranquilizer arrows. Then, they bring him here while he's unconscious.

If that wasn't bad enough, their filing system was completely unorganized. It looked as though the last person to use it had just thrown papers in there at random. Not everyone was as OCD as he was, but this was just ridiculous. Bruce sighed in frustration. When the other scientist he was sharing this lab with got there, he was going to have a little chat with them.

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait very long to meet them.

Bruce yelped and toppled backwards as one of the sections in the wall came flying towards him. His heart-rate spiked, forcing him to lay there on the floor until it slowed down. He felt fairly helpless.

"Sorry 'bout that," someone said with seemingly forced lightness. Bruce looked up to see Carter McIntyre smiling somewhat apologetically at him. He stared at her, and more specifically, her eyes. They unnerved him; that was exactly what his eyes looked like just before he changed. Carter stuck out her hand.

He took it and she helped him haul himself to his feet. They looked at each other before Carter set out in search of the missing wall panel.

"See you found the lab OK," she commented as she picked the huge piece of metal up above her head and carried it back to the other side of the room. Bruce could feel his mouth hanging open slightly while he watched her.

"To be perfectly honest," Carter continued nonchalantly, "I spent a couple of hours wandering around and accidentally locking myself in rooms before I found it." She set the panel against the gaping hole and took a step back. After admiring her not-so handy work, she nodded. "That'll do for now."

The scientist couldn't help but notice that there was a fist-shaped dent in the panel.

"Um... how'd you do that?" Bruce felt his face grow red. He could turn into a 'enormous green rage monster'; why did he get so shocked when other people could do amazing things? And why did he always come off sounding like an idiot when he was nervous?

Carter shrugged. "Well, to quote you, 'the madder I get, the stronger I get'. It'll wear off in a couple of minutes." She waved it away like it was nothing.

Bruce swallowed. So, she _was _like him. He shifted his weight uncomfortably and shoved his hands into his pockets. God, this was so _awkward_. Bruce desperately wished he could go back to not having to talk to people. Those years on the run, while stressful, had been nice and quiet. He was a little rusty in the whole 'human contact' department.

"Were you in the middle of something?" Carter asked.

"Uh, yeah." He pointed at the filing cabinet. "I was just trying to find something. Whoever organized those files was dyslexic." Bruce gave a faltering smile at his weak attempt at humor.

Carter walked over to the cabinet and began rummaging around. "Actually, I'm not dyslexic; I just can't spell to save my life. My bad."

"Oh." Bruce's face felt heated. _Stupid, stupid! _"I-I didn't know you were the one who... I mean, I just... I'm sure _you_ get it!" He wanted to hit himself so bad.

And then he'd crawl into a hole, where he could go back to avoiding people.

"No, you're right," she laughed. "I really have no idea where anything is. If you think this is bad, you should see my room."

"Ha," Bruce said weakly. This was, in his opinion, the one down-side to being an intellectual; you had no social skills. Or maybe you did, but they were hidden under levels and levels of awkward. At one point in his life, Bruce had had access to those social skills. Not anymore.

Carter looked back up at him with her large green eyes. "What were you looking for again?"

Now here was something he was good at talking about: science. "I was looking to see if there was anything on 'Operation: Rebirth'. I know it's a bit of a long shot, seeing as it was discontinued and then restarted several times under different names, but-"

"Here's what I have on the original project," Carter said, her face buried in the cabinet, as she handed him a file. "It's not much, but what's there is pretty helpful. Here's some stuff on the Cold War version of the project. This is a file about a weaker version of the serum that was somewhat successful, and this one is has the notes that my dad made about strengthening it. Umm... these are pretty much useless, but you might find something I missed. And this-" she stood and placed one final folder on the top of the giant stack that was weighing him down. "This is everything about your version of the super-solider project."

Bruce tried to use his shoulder to push his glasses further up his nose. "Where did you get all these?"

A wicked grin crossed Carter's face. For a second, she seemed a million miles away, lost in a memory. "Let's just say that Fury could send me to jail on more charges than just damage to public property."

With a simple nod, Bruce trudged over to his desk and set the files down. This was probably going to take a while to go through. At least there was a lot of information.

"Can I ask why you're looking?" Carter plopped down in the chair next to him. From the look she gave him, Bruce was sure that she would find out one way or another.

"I thought there might be something on... how to reverse it, I guess. My, um, condition, is based on this, so I thought there might be information on a cure."

Carter shrugged. "Check that fourth file there, then; it's one of the only other projects that used gamma."

"Is it yours?" Bruce asked. He picked up the file Carter had indicated and opened it.

Inside was a black and white picture of two young girls. The older one had a thin, almost hallowed face, and flashed a tired smile at the camera. The other girl had her arms folded over her chest and was looking at the camera like _Really?_. He glanced up to see the older Carter giving him an identical look.

Bruce laughed. "Yep, that's you. Thanks for this. I haven't really gotten around to finding a cure. I've been kind of busy lately. This should help a lot."

"Busy?" Carter asked with a little laugh. "What have you been doing? Finishing your manuscript? Choreographing a musical? Curing cancer?"

"The last one, actually. Well, kinda."

The look on Carter's face was priceless. "Wow. That's definitely better than anything I did while I was hiding. I really just played a lot of solitary. And stole a lot of science textbooks from little kids." She paused before asking, "Where'd they find you?"

"I was in India," Bruce replied, recalling it all. "I'd been trying to help some of the smaller, poorer communities. A lot of them didn't have access to clean water. I just... I thought that, I dunno, it'd be better if I helped them instead of focusing on myself. They needed help more than I did. I became sort of a local doctor and teacher; if anyone needed something, like advice or medicine, they'd come to me. It was actually nice."

Bruce's face darkened. "I came home from the village one night, and one of SHIELD's agents was there. Romanoff, I think. She told me that I had to join the Avenger Initiative, and that if I refused, she'd 'persuade' me to join. She said that even if I, uh, Hulked up, they would take me. Well, I didn't really believe that. But, when I Hulked up, sure enough, they took me down." Bruce reached up and rubbed his shoulder where one of their arrows had pierced his skin. "I woke up on an airplane in handcuffs."

"Makes me really appreciate the fact that they didn't try to shoot me," Carter noted. "Of course, they did do this whole man-hunt thing with helicopters and tanks through the forrest. That was pretty exciting."

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Tanks?"

"What?" Carter mocked, pretending to be offended. "You don't think I could take out a tank?"

"No, I believe you." He smiled and looked into her eyes. He definitely liked the chemical-green color on her better than he did on himself. Bruce shook himself out of his momentary trance. "So. Where'd they find _you_?"

Carter sighed. "Canada. I have no idea why they even thought to look for me there. Who goes to _Canada_? It would have made more sense if they'd found me in, oh, I don't know, Egypt or something, but really. _Canada_?"

"It's actually very unlikely that they would have found you in Egypt," Bruce told her matter-of-factly. "There weren't many U.S. officials there when I passed through."

"You've been?" She sounded almost wistful, and Bruce suddenly realized that she'd probably never left North America while she was in hiding. If she had only been eight or so when she'd started running, she wouldn't have had the means to get very far.

Bruce nodded. "I've been through the top half of Africa. I wish I could have gone farther south though; I've always wanted to visit the Cape of Good Hope."

Carter's already bright eyes lit up. She grinned and opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by a voice from above. Literally.

_"Attention all Avengers," _the voice announced. _"Please assemble in the briefing room. Please assemble in the briefing room."_

"The what?" Bruce asked Carter, a nervous feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. He had a bad feeling about this.

Carter just shook her head. "I think he means that really clean room that I'm not allowed in. C'mon, I'll show you where it is."

"Should I be concerned?" Bruce stood and waited for her to lead him.

"Mmm..." Carter looked back at him. "Yeah, probably."

Oh, great.

* * *

Loki closed his eyes and felt his way around the holding room with his mind.

The architect was not very creative, that was for certain. The room was large and circular, with smooth walls and glass windows that Loki could not see out of, but the SHIELD agents could look into. The door (which as far as he could tell was the only designated exit) was built from heavy, sturdy steel. The creator of this prison had done one thing right; Loki could feel that his magic was growing weaker the longer he stayed here.

Fortunately, Lily would come to him soon.

The mortal had proved herself useful several times over. After his fall from the bifrost, she had taken Loki in, knowing what he was, what he'd done, and nursed him back to health. She had comforted him and shown him about the human race.

Though it was not what she was trying to teach him, Loki had learned one thing; the human race was spiraling out of control, had gone completely insane. If you listened close to everyone's heart, you could hear that breaking sound. Despite the horrible shape they were in, the humans continued to lie to themselves. It was disgusting.

But Loki could make it better. What the humans needed was a leader who could give them what they needed, not what they _thought _they needed. And Loki knew _exactly _what they needed.

Him. They needed _him_.

At first, he had been unsure how to go about becoming the leader of the human race. Well, actually, Loki had known that he was going to take over using force - that was fairly obvious. It was just a question of _how _to succeed in his quest for world domination.

The Cube would lead him to victory.

During his healing time, he had discovered it. He had trailed that bumbling scientist, Slevig, looking for more information about it. As soon as he had gotten close to it, Loki felt it's power. The Cube was unlike anything he had ever felt before.

And it called to him.

The first attempt to secure the Cube had failed on purpose; he wanted for them to know he was coming. What fun was it to win without a challenge? What fun was it to simply become the most powerful being in the realm without facing any obstacles? None, if you asked Loki.

This time was no warning. This was the real thing. Soon, Loki would have the Cube, and then, he would be unstoppable. Oh, he could finish it quickly, but that wouldn't be much of a game, would it? No, he was going to play. The Avengers seemed like the ideal opponents; a bit of a challenge, but it was more likely that they would tear each other apart before they even got near enough to him to take him down.

Loki was definitely going to help speed the self-destruction process along.

The sound of light footsteps on metal reached his ears, and he smiled. Lily was on her way.

She was putty in his hands; he could form her to his will with such ease that it was almost disturbing. She believed every word he said, and even believed that she loved him.

_Silly girl_, Loki thought darkly to himself. If only she knew.

Unfortunately, Lily was too good to help him escape from SHIELD's prison. Without a good reason, at least. Fortunately, Loki had just enough magic left to create the perfect illusion.

Already, he could feel sweat forming on his brow. His breathing grew more labored and ragged. Loki slumped back in the chair he was locked to. Next, he created gashes on his face and chest, and the blood that went with it. Though he could not actually see it, he pictured purple and blue swelling all over his face. As undignified as it was, he let his mouth hang open slightly in his best impression of a confused Thor.

He was absolutely sure that he looked like a victim of torture. That was exactly was he was going for.

Outside the room, Lily was arguing with the security guard.

"You have to let me in. Director Fury sent me," the red head said with so much authority that Loki found himself believing her obvious lie. "He wants for me to interrogate the prisoner. I _am _the head researcher here."

Loki smiled to himself. She truly was his to manipulate.

A buzzer went off and Loki heard the heavy door swing open. He resisted the urge to smile; his plan was working _perfectly_.

"Oh my God! Loki!" Lily rushed over to where he was sitting. Loki let out a tiny moan and let his eyelids flutter.

A warm hand grazed his freezing cheek. "Lily," he murmured. "Lily, love."

"Oh my God." Her voice cracked. She inhaled sharply, then placed her free hand on the back of his head and pulled him in close. _She was_ s_o warm..._ "What did they do to you?" she choked out. Lily used her thumb to wipe blood off his forehead.

As feebly as he could manage, Loki cracked one eye open. "Lily, please," he begged. "Go... before they come back... and hurt you.. too." He tried to take her hands in his handcuffed ones. "Don't want... to see you.. get hurt."

Tears cascaded from her bright blue eyes. A look of determination crossed her face. "No. They won't hurt me. And they certainly won't hurt you, again."

From her pocket, she produced a set of keys. Inside, Loki had moved from smiling with joy to laughing hysterically. Could Lily really be so gullible? Had she not learned her lesson? He was the god of _lies_. And she believed every word he said. So naive. So trusting. So... _stupid_. It was actually quite endearing. Never once had Loki met anyone so willing to believe in the good in people. _The good in people. Ha!_

Lily messed with the locks for less than a minute. They clicked open, and Loki resisted the urge to immediately rub his wrists.

"Stay here," she instructed quietly. He tried to flash her a weak smile.

Either Lily was more oblivious than he thought or Loki should become a performer. That hadn't even been his best act!

From outside the room, he could hear Lily telling the security guard to go get Fury. Personally. The foolish mortal, probably fearing for his job, ran off to complete his newly assigned task. The tapping of buttons and flipping of switches told Loki that Lily was disabling the security system. He rolled his neck. This was going to be so _easy_.

Lily's jaw dropped when she entered to room and saw him standing there, perfectly unharmed. His grinned wickedly before crossing the room and pinning her against the wall.

"Loki?" she asked in a strangled voice. "You were just... I thought..."

"You thought wrong, my dear," he replied, ice in his tone. "You and your entire kind thought wrong. All of you, so unaware, so absorbed in your own little world. So _simple._ _You were made to be ruled_."

Lily's eyes filled with tears. "Loki? Loki, what are you doing? You're better than this. You've changed..."

"No." He chuckled darkly. "I am what I always was. You are only just realizing it."

"You lied to me."

He completely lost it this time. Whether it was that ridiculously obvious statement or the heartbroken way in which she said it that made him laugh so loudly, he wasn't sure.. "Of course! I'm the god of _lying_. Did you honestly expect better of me?"

Lily shook her head and tried to pull away from him. "Carter was right," she murmured.

"Carter?" Loki asked, remembering the annoying little girl and the grown woman he had seen earlier. "You're sister is smarter than I give her credit for. Not too intelligent, but smarter than I thought. Believe me, love, I'll get to your sister. She and those little Avengers will get what they've asked for."

"Please," Lily begged, her eyes wide with fear and hurt. "Let me go. I can't do this."

A feeling Loki had not felt in a long time took over him. Let her go? _Let her go_? Never. Lily was his. And if he could not have her, no one could. He leaned in and forced his lips upon hers.

At first, her warm mouth hung open in shock. But when Loki snaked his silver tongue into it, she responded just as enthusiastically as she usually did. He pressed himself against her, drinking her in, her and her warmth.

Breathless, he pulled back. "I regret what am I about to do," Loki whispered in her ear. "Truly."

Suddenly, Lily collapsed in his arms, snoring softly. With a wave of his hand, he sent her away from this place; he would find her later. Maybe then, he would wake her from her indefinite slumber.

But first, he had to get the Cube.


	5. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

Everything was different.

People didn't talk in person anymore. Heck, they didn't even call; they _texted _or _e-mailed_. No one seemed to read books or the newspaper; it was all online. (Online. Steve still didn't understand how the internet worked. Everyone in the world connected to one another through a little, tiny machine?) People moved too fast. They never slowed down to stop and see how other people were doing. (Unless they used this thing called 'Facebook', which wasn't even a real book.)

They'd even changed his uniform.

This was actually the one change Steve liked. His new uniform was less bulky, more colorful. It was more modern, true, but it still had the same classic element that he loved so much. It actually smelled older, not like that horrible Axe stuff most men were wearing. Steve tended to choked on that. And this one fit the same as the original.

Steve really liked it. A lot. It was pretty nifty.

But his new teammates didn't seem to think it was all that swell.

As soon as he walked into the briefing room, Tony burst burst out laughing.

"Who dressed you this morning?" Howard's son asked through his fits of laughter. "Uncle Sam?"

From over on the other side of the room, someone said, "You look like you're wearing an American flag."

Steve turned to see the two people who'd asked for some of his blood, Bruce Banner and Carter McIntyre, looking at him. Given that Dr. Banner was trying very hard not to laugh and that Carter was smirking openly, he assumed that it was the woman who'd said it.

"Indeed," the huge, blonde god of thunder agreed. "It is not a very manly outfit. Perhaps if you were to wear looser pants..."

The room filled with laughter. Steve felt his face grow hot and he looked down at his outfit. No one had ever said anything about his uniform before. Was it really that bad?

Tony gasped for air and added, "He looks like a patriotic hipster!"

Steve was about to respond when Fury cut him off. The tall man stepped into the middle of the room, giving the evil eye (no pun intended there) to them all.

"Enough," he growled. "Let's get down to business."

Steve heard someone mutter, "To defeat... huns!"

Fury let out a sound of frustration, but ignored them. "First of all, I'd like to introduce you all to two of your new teammates. Some of you already Agents Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton."

Two leather-clad people stepped forward. The man was shorter than Steve (and Thor and Bruce and Tony and Carter) and had a bow slung over his back. He took them all in with a relatively skeptical gaze.

The woman made Steve nervous. She was beautiful, a real dame. But she also looked like she could easily kill him. She gazed around the room like she was sizing them all up. With a haughty little noise, she tossed her bright red hair over her shoulder.

"Hey, there Natasha, baby," Tony said, spreading his arms out wide. "Miss me?"

"No," Natasha replied.

"Back to business," Fury looked around the room, daring them to speak. No one said anything. "We've received information saying that Loki's army has arrived."

"Is it the Jotuns?" Thor asked, pushing his hair back as he did. "The Frost Giants?"

Steve didn't like the sound of 'Frost Giants'. Thankfully, Fury pursed his lips and shook his head. "We don't know what they are."

"Well," Tony said sarcastically. "That's reassuring."

Fury ignored him. "But we know they're coming, and we know there's lots of them. We know they're headed towards Manhattan."

"Uh, sir?" Clint Barton stepped forward. "How can we fight _some amount _of _something _that _might_ be here _soon_?"

"That," Fury replied, a smile playing at his lips, "is your team leader's decision. Your team _captain_, if you will."

All eyes turned to Steve. He felt his face getting red, again. Did they all have to look at him? At the same time?

"Captain Rogers will lead you into battle," Fury explained. "He is more than qualified."

"Wait a minute," Tony said, making the time out signal. "Why does he get to lead? I mean, I'm the smartest one here-"

"_Excuse me_?" Carter and Bruce said at the same time.

Tony waved them off. "And Thor here is a god. So, why does he get to do it?"

Steve couldn't take it anymore. Tony looked so much like Howard, but he was a total - excuse his language - ass. It was a disgrace to Steve's friends' memory, that face saying those things.

"You're not even on the team, Stark," he snapped.

Tony clearly hadn't been expecting that. He blinked once in surprise, but came right back. "That's fine with me. Since, well, no offense, but I don't really play well with others."

"Big man in a suit of armor," Steve said as he moved to get in Tony's face. "Take that away and what are you?"

"Uh, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist."

Thor let out a little chuckle, and Carter grinned. "I woulda said 'Stark naked', but that's just me," she told Tony.

Tony pointed at her. "I like you. How'd you like to be my new wingman? Wingwoman. Whatever works for you."

"Haaaaaaaave you met Tony?" she replied.

It must have been some sort of inside joke, because Tony was the only one who laughed. Everyone else in the room just stared.

"_Anyway_," Fury snapped. "We've got at least five hours before Loki's arm-"

_"Uh, sir?"_ A panicked voice rang out from a walki-talki on Fury's hip.

Angry that he was being interrupted again, Fury violently snatched the device. "Yes, Coulson?"

"_We've got a bit of a situation down here."_

"You'll have to do better than that."

_"Loki got out! He has the cube - DUCK!" _Sounds of explosions rang through the other end of the walki-talki. _"Sir, he's - "_

When the only thing that followed was static, Fury showed another emotion for the first time - worry. "Coulson? Come in Coulson."

Still no response.

"How the hell did Loki get out?" Tony asked, his brows drawing closer together. His mouth dipped down the same way Howard's did when he was upset. "I built that cage! It was Loki-proof! No magic, no nothin'!"

"Um, yeeeah." Everyone turned to look at Carter. She rubbed the back of her neck. "'Bout that... see, I, um, may know who let him out."

"_Who_?"

"_Weeell_." She looked around the room, her face growing red. "It may have been his wife."

Thor shook his head. "Sigyn has not spoken to Loki for centuries. There is no way that it could have been his wife."

"He _might _have more than one wife."

Fury stalked forward. "McIntyre, you spit it out _right now _or I'm gonna kick your as-"

"That's really not necessary."

The attention went from Carter to another man, who had suddenly appeared in the middle of the room. He was tall and thin, with pointed features and a pale face. He sneered at all of them.

"Loki," Thor growled. He started forward.

"Ah, brother," Loki scolded. "You'll get to have a go at me. But for now, I leave you with a warning: Do try and stay together, for in the end, it will be every man for himself."

Loki held his hands at his waist, about six inches apart. "And, since you have so kindly welcomed me into your home," he said with a smirk, "I leave you with a bit of a parting gift."

Suddenly, he expanded his hands.

The room blew up.

* * *

So, standing next to the window had been a poor decision on Carter's part.

When Loki's hand bomb went off, she felt herself being forced back and through the glass, the shards digging into her back. She didn't even have time to wince before the next painful thing came: the landing.

She was thrown into the side of the wall with such force that it formed a Carter-sized dent. With a cry of pain, she slid down the metal wall. Her first instinct was to just lay there until the pain went away, but that wasn't an option. Steel beams from above came crashing down on her, and she had to roll out of the way.

"Carter?" An almost frantic voice called. That was Bruce. "Carter? Are you alright?"

Carter pulled her self to a standing position. The world seemed to spin, and she blinked a couple of times, trying to get it to stop. When she was seeing double instead of quadruple, she could make out Bruce, standing in the middle off two beams that had impaled themselves on either side of him. His dark hair stood up in so many directions that it was actually kind of funny. Carter would have laughed, but her ribs hurt too much.

""m good," she said, words lightly slurred. She pressed a hand to her throbbing head and blinked hard again. "You 'kay?"

He nodded, but Carter could tell that he wasn't all that OK. She could hear his watch beeping, signaling that his heart rate was just a bit too high. Bruce took a couple of deep breaths.

"Is everyone alright down there?"

The two of them looked up to see Fury glaring down at them. He seemed to lean out of the window, avoiding the jagged edges of glass as he did.

Carter, whose head hurt too much to speak, just gave him a thumbs up.

"Banner," Fury said slowly. "We need you."

Bruce's brown eyes widened visibly. "No! I don't... I could hurt people! I won't - "

"Of course you won't!" Fury snarled. "You never do _anything_!"

The beeping noise grew faster.

"You've never done anything in your _life_! Instead of facing your problems, you run! What kind of a man does that?" A malicious smile was forming on Fury face. "You never act! You avoid! And that's why your girlfriend left you!"

Bruce was clutching one of the metal bars, breaths coming in short and fast. He looked up at Fury and begged, "No... Don't make him angry..."

Fury continued tormenting the scientist, ignoring his pain and his pleas. He did it with a grin, too. "She left you, because you couldn't _do_ anything. You couldn't _do_ her, so she found someone who could - "

A cry of rage echoed through the room. Carter looked back to Bruce, and then jumped back in surprise so quickly that she nearly tripped over a beam.

Bruce was shaking all over, his skin turning a sickly, ashen color. His eyes, which had been squeezed shut a moment ago, snapped open, revealing bright green eyes. The same color as Carter's eyes.

_Oh_, Carter realized, thinking of all the times people had had mini-heart attacks when they'd seen _her _eyes. _Now, I get it_.

However, it only took her a moment to piece together what was happening, and her next thought was something along the lines of, _HOLY SHIPIUGTMAMDH-_

"_AAAAAAAARRRGG_!"

Carter took one look at at a seven-foot tall and counting green Bruce and did what any other brave, selfless hero would have done; she took off in the opposite direction.

* * *

Tony came out in yet another a metal tunnel and stopped short. Where the hell _was _he, and what did SHEILD have against labeling things? Seriously - every tunnel here was identical.

Suddenly, the sounds of crunching metal and enraged roars reached his ears. Tony really didn't want to look behind him, but -

Tony was knocked to the ground with such force that he actually heard a few ribs crack. He let out a low groan that was almost immediately drowned out by a growl that left the tunnel shaking. When he tried to lift his head up to see what was going on, someone (who was laying on top of him) slammed it back down again.

"What the fu - " he started, working his mouth to try to regain feeling in his face again.

"_AAAAARGGG! HULK ANGRY!_"

This time when Tony looked up, no one stopped him. But he almost wished they had.

A giant, green foot came rushing down at his face. _Oh, god_, Tony thought. _This is the end. Stepped on. Tony Stark _died _because he was stepped on._ His whole life flashed before his eyes, and despite the situation, a smirk played at his lips - yep, his life was even more awesome the second time around.

But, as it turns out, he didn't die right then. The Hulk's foot came down on top of him, but never actually ended up crushing Tony. It seemed to push off of the air above them. Huh.

Tony took a closer looked. That wasn't air - that was a force-field! There was a thin layer of green surrounding them. With a grunt, whoever had been keeping Tony down rolled off of him.

"Stupid... _fat_... overweight... Hulk," Carter panted. She glanced at Tony, who laughed at the look on her face that seemed to say, _We're putting Bruce on a diet when he gets back_.

The two of them hauled themselves up to their feet. Carter leaned against the wall, clutching her side. She cast a glance at him. "You alright?"

"Um." Tony began poking around. There would be bruises for sure, but he couldn't find anything that was sticking out at odd angles. His stomach _felt _alright, but he had sworn he'd heard something. "Well, I thought my ribs cracked, but..."

"No, don't worry. Those were mine." She looked skeptically at him. "Where's everyone else?"

"They went after Loki," Tony replied quickly. That was sort of where he had been headed - but first, he needed to suit up.

Carter grinned. "And you weren't going to join them?"

"Psh." Iron Man waved his hand dismissively. "_No_." There was a pause. "Yeah, OK. I was," Tony admitted. He gave her his best 'judging' look that he usually only used during poker games. "You gonna rat me out?"

"And betray my wingman?" Carter pretended to look horrified. "Never! I was actually going to ask if you wanted to come with me; I think we should probably go and get Bruce." She gestured to a Hulk-shaped hole in the wall.

Tony nodded once. "I'll come with you, but let's get something straight." He pointed to her. "_You _- " he moved his finger so that he was practically poking himself in the chest "- are _my _wingman. Wingwoman. Whatever."

"It's a two-way street," the force-field user countered. She crossed her arms and shifted into a position that let Tony know that she wasn't about to change her mind on the subject.

"OK, fine. _Deal_." Tony glanced past her to stare at the hole the Hulk had left. "What made him Hulk-up anyways?"

Carter got this really awkward look on her face. She shifted her weight from foot to foot, and seemed to be considering how to phrase it. "Oh, ya know. Fury played the old 'your girlfriend left you because you couldn't have sex with her without squishing her' card."

"I hate it when he does that," Tony replied, trying not to show how awkward that made him feel, too. _Damn_, he thought. _Fury can be a real bitch sometimes._

Tony sensed a pause coming on, so he quickly said, "We're going after him, right? Just give me a minute; I have to get my briefcase."

"Your briefcase?" Carter asked, her eyes growing wide.

The billionaire just laughed. "Oh, yes. My briefcase."


	6. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

Although Thor was certain that, at least in comparison to Asgard, New York City always looked "trashed" (an new expression the archer had thought him), the rest of the team assured him that the city was in a far worse state than normal. Some matter of giant yellow carriages were overturned, and the Midgardians fled through the streets, most screaming in a rather undignified manner. The mortal peacekeepers were doing their best to subdue the chaos, but as Thor had learned from Loki, chaos is something that is not easily controlled.

Loki. Just the name of his little brother sent a pain through shooting through his chest. It would spread through his veins until his whole body shook with an explainable, sickening cold. His stomach would churn, and he would be unable to shake the feeling for a long while.

And now, Thor could actually _see _him.

Loki stood atop one of the 'taxis', wielding his spear and shooting bolts of magic that would propel the self-motorized carriages through the air. He cackled with delight as the mortals' screams increased.

"OK," the son of Rogers said from beside Thor. The were crouched behind a huge chunk of rock, out of sight. "We need to get everybody out of here. Natasha, make sure the citizens clear the area. Thor, you and I will take this back alley over there, and then come back around and take Loki out from behind. Clint, do you think maybe you could serve as a distraction?"

Thor heard the archer snap his bow into it's full form. "Electric or exploding?"

"Erm," the Captain muttered uncomfortably, "whatever you think will work best."

"Exploding it is, then!" Barton notched a disfigured looking arrow (there was no arrowhead, and therefore, no chance it would actually _work_). "Tick tick boom! Loki won't know what hit him!"

"Brother!"

All four Avengers froze at the sound of Loki's voice.

"Oh, _brother_!" Loki sing-songed. He let out an unbridled laugh. Thor felt a shiver travel up his spine; it was so unhinged, so un-Loki like, that Thor felt that maybe the man who had once been his brother truly was gone and beyond saving. Perhaps Loki was lost.

"Are you there, brother? Come out!" Deranged. That was how Loki sounded. Absolutely, completely deranged. "Come out, come out and _play!"_

* * *

_Thor had just received the hammer from his father, and was out in the garden, practicing. After tossing from hand to hand several times, he felt confident enough to throw it. Thor peeked at Loki, who sat on a rock reading a spell book. Loki was always so boring._

_Thor swung that hammer back behind him, then brought it forward with as much force as he could manage._

_"Brother, look!"_

_Loki looked up from his book just in time to see Thor's hammer go flying past his face. It soared over the intended target and slammed into the wall behind, causing part of it to completely crumble._

_And with it, Thor's face crumbled._

_"You've missed," Loki said dryly._

_Thor ignored him. He ran over to the wall to check and see how bad the damage was. "Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, Loki, oh, no! Mother will kill me! I - I wasn't supposed to practice in the garden. What am I to do?" Thor turned to Loki._

_"I have no idea," his brother replied, eyes on his book once again._

_Thor turned back to the wall. Perhaps he could re-stack the bricks? Rebuilding a wall couldn't be all that hard, not if mere commoners had built it in the first place. Perfect!_

_But then Thor remembered that it had not be the common Aesir who had built the wall; Odin himself had built it, and the rest of the kingdom. And the prince had no idea to to build things... he usually destroyed them. Thor was doomed._

_"Would you like some assistance, brother?" Loki stood and stretched. "Let me see how badly you have ruined things this time; I may be able to fix it, as I usually do."_

_Loki went to stand by his brother. Thor watched him nervously as he narrowed his eyes and cocked his head, assessing the damage. After a moment of silence, Thor could take it no longer._

_"Can you fix it, brother?"_

_Loki let out a thoughtful sound, but said nothing else._

_"Brother, please," Thor moaned, desperation creeping into his voice. "You must help me. I need you."_

_Although Loki's face remained stoic, his green eyes twinkled. With a wave of his hand, the wall rebuilt itself. _

_"Next time," Loki said, "try _hitting_ the target. Honestly, brother, if word of your poor marksmanship gets out, everyone in the kingdom will begin to fear for their lives."_

_As Loki walked away, Thor swore he saw something of a spring in his brother's face._

_"Brother, wait!" Thor called, a smile forming on his face. "Join me! You have seen how well I have performed; perhaps you could continue to aid me?"_

_"I have no desire to play with you, Thor."_

* * *

Thor ignored his teammates' protests as he stepped out from behind the wall. "End this madness, Loki," Thor said, Mjolnir hanging loosely by his side as a sign of his reluctance to fight. "Do not endanger these people's lives over a family matter."

"Endanger?" Loki pretended to look confused. Then, a wide grin spread across his face. "I am simply trying to _help _these people, Thor. They need my guidance."

"This is not the way to do it." Thor's grip on Mjolnir tightened when another demented laugh escaped his brother's lips.

"You think I don't know that, brother?" He waved his spear in the air in an almost nonchalant manner. "Me, destroying a few cars and killing a few mortals at a time isn't a very effective way to go about it. I do have a plan, you know." Loki glanced upward, and the smile on his lips grew even wider. "And here it is now," he hissed.

Thor's brows drew together in confusion, and he followed his brother's gaze.

What was the phrase the archer, Barton, had used earlier? Oh, yes, now he remembered.

Thor believed that they were 'in deep shit'.

* * *

Tony hovered above the scene, watching as people fled in order to avoid the wrath of the Hulk. Well, most of them anyways.

Through the communication piece Carter was wearing he heard one old man say, _"I'm fine right where I am, missy. I didn't leave during Hurricane Irene, and here I am, in one piece!"_

A grin crossed Tony's face when he saw Carter point angrily at the Hulk, who, being the helpful monster that he was, chose that moment to lift a car above his head and let out a terrifying roar. _"Does that _look _like a hurricane to you?" _

There was a muttered response from the old man, who took off in the opposite direction.

"That was the last of the civilians," Tony informed Carter. "You're clear to go beat the crap out of the Hulk."

As if sensing that Carter was about to have a go at him, the Hulk turned his attention to Safeguard. With another bellow of rage, he sent the car he'd been holding in her direction.

Although Tony was too high up to see the thing force-field, he knew that that was what formed when Carter lifted her hands up in front of her. The car smacked into the practically invisible wall, the ricochetted off to the side.

Not happy that his latest target hadn't ended up smashed, the Hulk charged.

"Jolly Green Giant's headed your way," Ironman warned.

Below him, Carter dropped to a kneeling position and put her hands over her head like a kid in a fire drill. _"_No_. Really? I hadn't noticed_."

The Hulk increased speed, and then, using an over-turned taxi like a take-off ramp, jumped up, bringing his fists up with him. He slammed down on top of Carter.

Tony could hear a hollow banging noise coming from his earpiece as the Hulk continued to hit the dome Carter had formed around herself.

_"Why Hulk no smash?" _It sounded muffled and extremely angry.

Carter stood slowly, hands still in front of her. _"Bruce - calm down. It's me. Carter. You remember me, don't you?"_

_"SMASH!"_

"Sounds like he remembers you." Tony swooped in lower, now about a hundred feet above the scene. "You want help?"

He heard Carter take in a breath to respond, but whatever it was she said was drowned out by an explosion.

Tony was thrown forward and sent spiraling towards the ground. Just before he completely face planted into the street, he stabilized himself. _What the hell was that?_

It had come from above him, and when he looked up to see what it was, he thought, not for the first time today, _Why didn't I think of that?_

At first, Tony thought that he might actually _have _thought of it - it looked a lot like the Quinjet he'd designed for SHIELD. Only this thing was bigger, blacker, sleeker, and possibly more heavily armed. The futuristic design and horned front made it look like _The Flying Dutchman_ - if Davy Jones had been a space pirate.

"JARVIS," Tony commanded. "Scan that thing. I want information"

"I can't sir," the computer replied. "There appears to be some sort of scrambler surrounding the ship."

Tony let out a huff. Why was there always a signal-scrambler? "Is it one of ours? Hammer's?"

"No, sir. The design is not one that the system recognizes. Actually, it's not a design that _any _system recognizes."

OK, no one Tony knew had made it. And this was advanced technology, nothing he had ever seen before. So, that left... "What the fuck? _Aliens_? JARVIS, are you telling me _aliens _built that thing?"

"I do not know, sir." God. Leave it to JARVIS and his stupid British accent to be uninformed at the most important of times. Normally, JARVIS was all too willing to talk; now, he was just as clueless as Tony. Great.

There was a cracking noise from behind him, and Iron Man turned to see a building begin to shake, unstable from the blast from earlier.

And standing right under it was his wingman (Wingwoman. Whatever.). Carter was still facing the Hulk, unaware that a _building _was about to come down on top of her.

"Carter! Get out of there!"

Hearing him call, Carter turned her head towards Tony, who could only just make out a look of confusion on her face. The building shuddered horribly again, and this time the force-field user turned around. Just as it began to fall.

Tony shot forward, plusors blazing, ready to knock his partner out of the way, but someone beat him to it.

The Hulk tackled Carter and the two of them disappeared underneath a mound of rubble. Tony stopped short, shocked. "Uh, Carter? Can you hear me? Carter!"

There was no response. Just a lot of static.

* * *

It was almost amusing how dumbstruck those silly little Avengers had gotten at the sight of his alien army. Mortals truly did 'freak out' whenever anything strange or abnormal came along - and it had given Loki the perfect opportunity to escape (not as though he'd been trapped - he simply had a business meeting he needed to attend to).

Loki strode along the narrow hallway, his cape billowing out behind him. He held his head up high and looked straight ahead, the way any dignified prince would. He knew he radiated power; that was just what he wanted. The Jovian's scattered as he passed them, and he had to fight to keep a smile from forming. It felt so _right_.

When Loki reached a door guarded by two alien soldiers, he allowed himself a grin. Though the guards did not flinch or _show _any emotion, he could feel their uneasiness in the air. "I am hear to see Qwa'na."

Without a word, the Jovians moved aside. Loki pushed open the door and swept into the leader's headquarters.

It could have easily been the office of any other powerful ruler, save for the darkness and foreign weapons scattered about. "You have called me, your Majesty?" Those last two words felt sour in his mouth; he despised the idea of someone besides himself being king of anything.

"Yes," a raspy voice from the other side of the room said. Loki followed it to a chair which was facing away from him. "Are you pleased with my services so far?"

"Very," Loki replied, a grin forming. "Your men have performed well so far. They please me. I thank you again for providing me with my army."

Qwa'na let out a shallow breath that could have been anything from a huff to a sigh. "Do they please you enough for you to hold up your end of the bargain, Trickster?"

_Trickster_. Loki hated being called by that title now; he was so much _more_ than a simple trickster. Still, he didn't see the need to point that out to the, er, _man _loaning him an army.

"Of course," Loki replied smoothly, calling upon his silver tongue. "As stated before, Asgard shall be yours in return for your excellent services. I only require Midgard."

"Good. You are free to leave then, Loki, god of lies, maker of mischief."

Loki bristled once again at the use his old name, but said nothing about it. He bowed his head stiffly, and exited the office. Once out the door, he let the darkness consume him.

He had a wife to check on.

* * *

With Loki gone, Qwa'na now addressed the only other person present in the room. "Speak," the old alien commanded.

"I stand by my previous statement," the man replied. "You vould be foolish to trust him."

Qwa'na ran his long fingers along the arm of his chair in deep thought. "What do you suggest then?"

"It vould be vise to turn on him before he can turn on you. I have seen ze pover of ze gods - vithout his cooperation, zat realm vill be beyond your reach."

"So you believe that all hope is lost."

"No." There was the sound of boots clanging against metal as the man crossed the room. "I believe zere is anover way - in my travels, I have come across a great many tings, made many discoveries. _I _could be just as useful to you as any over god."

Now the man was right behind Qwa'na's chair. "Give your army to _me_, oh leader. I vill lead you to victory - in both realms!"

Qwa'na could sense the eagerness and longing pouring off the man. "What is your price?"

"I do not ask for much. I vant the pover of the gods."

"And how do I know that you will not turn on me, just as Loki is planning to do?" Qwa'na spun in his chair to face the man.

Two pairs of yellow eyes locked on each other.

"Because," the Red-Skull growled, "I have an enemy. I vant for him to see the vorld burn. I vant for him to be helpless! I vant Captain America's head on a plate!" There was an eerie silence before the Skull continued. "I need your army for zat."

"Then you shall have my army."


	7. Chapter Five

**AN: Alright, so at this point, I'm fairly far along in my attempt to get everything sort of edited and back up as fast as I can, and I'm just going to apologize for how badly written this is. The characters aren't fleshed out, their dialogue and interactions are rushed and unrealistic, and it's really just horrible overall. This was written almost a year ago, and, trust me, _I have gotten better than this, because this just sucks_. **

**But a lot of people liked this story the way it is, and I got an amazing amount of support for this, so, yeah, I'll leave it, but just know that I'm _really sorry. _**

**- Mac**

* * *

**Chapter Five**

Lily's dreams had gotten progressively more realistic over the course of her pregnancy.

But right now, she couldn't even tell the difference between her own imagination and what was actually transpiring around her. Everything was murky, like she was seeing and hearing things from underwater, like she was drowning.

Loki - her Loki, her broken, cold Loki - kneeled down by her bed and brushed a loose strand of hair from her face. The look he was giving her so different from the glare he had treated her to earlier that day. Right now, his face was open, his beautiful green eyes trained on her with their usual concerned look.

"Hello, love," he murmured. "Can you hear me?"

Oh, she could hear him all right. She wanted to scream, she wanted to yell - she wanted to ask if everything he ever told her was a lie. She wanted to ask if he ever even loved her, but she couldn't find the ability to speak.

Loki took her hot hand in his icy one. "I do regret this, you know. It's for your own good. It was the only way I could protect you - from them, and from yourself." He squeezed her hand. "I wish I didn't have to do it. I miss you terribly. And your cooking." He let out a little chuckle.

If Lily could move, she would have narrowed her eyes at him. Those were pretty words, but how much weight did they hold? How much weight did anything he ever said have?

"When I was a younger, I was different," he told her suddenly, his raven brows drawing closer together. "Actually, I am still different, and always will be. But that's beside the point. I lived in a world were I was not accepted, a place where I dreaded each day and relished the lonesome nighttime. I was shunned, an outcast. Everyone could _sense _that I was... abnormal." He sighed and released her hand. "My father knew it. He favored Thor because of it. He knew I was a monster. He knew I was not worthy."

"But if I were to become ruler of this world... I could shape it to my will. I could make it _better_." Lily was shocked to hear that his normally confident tone was gone; it sounded like he was trying to convince _himself_. "And I could prove myself worthy."

"I don't believe you can hear me." There was uncertainty in his silky smooth voice. He brushed his hand along her face. "Nonetheless, I want you to know that I _am _sorry. When all of this over, I shall wake you. But until then, I'm afraid I must leave you like this. For your own good."

Loki stood and looked down at her. "I must go, my darling. I have a meeting with... a _consultant_,if you will. This will be my attempt at ending this as quickly as possible."

When Loki left, anger filled Lily. He just _left _her there! Who does that? Who apologizes and then leaves you in the same position?

And why, oh why, was she tempted to forgive him? Loki had never once mentioned his childhood or any aspect of his past to her - just the fact that he had opened up to her made Lily want to forget all the times he'd done her wrong. He'd sounded so lost, and the look in his eye was so broken. It was the look of someone who had given up, someone who had let go. How could Lily stay angry at that?

* * *

The first thing that Bruce noticed was the uncomfortable, cold stuff touching his skin.

The next was that only his feet were touching the rocks. The rest on of him was on something that was warm and soft - and _breathing_.

Bruce's eyes snapped open and he came face to face with Carter, who raised an eyebrow and said pleasantly, "Mornin'!"

The scientist's face grew extremely heated as he tried to push himself off her with one hand, while using the other hand to keep yet another pair of ruined pants from falling down. He ended up sitting on Carter's feet.

They were locked in a tight space, fallen slabs of rock forming a sort of cave. He could see a couple of air wholes, but nothing big enough for either of them to climb out of. They were _trapped_. And he wasn't wearing a shirt. Bruce placed an arm over his bear chest in a pathetic attempt to cover himself.

Carter pulled her feet to her chest in order to give him more room. "I was wondering when you'd wake up. Did you know that you snore, but the Hulk doesn't?"

Well, no. He didn't know that. "What happened?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head, which hurt like crazy.

"I'm really not all that sure," Carter admitted. "We were having something of a staring competition, and then Tony started cursing about aliens, and then a building fell down, and you tackled me. I woke up with a huge headache and three ton green guy on top of me."

"_What_?" Bruce squinted at her. "Slow down, I - I really can't remember anything after Loki in the conference room." He gave her a look that probably seemed really helpless.

Carter shifted to a more upright position. "Do you remember getting blown _out _of the conference room?"

Bruce nodded.

"And do you remember Fury, um - " Carter's face grew a bit red, and he suddenly realized that she was _uncomfortable _about something. The girl who had punched in a wall and then started a conversation like it was nothing was _uncomfortable_. What could possibly make her -

Oh. Now he remembered. Bruce took in a few deep breaths and tried to clear his mind before nodding again. "Yeah. I remember that part."

Carter let out a sigh of relief. Apparently, she didn't really want to talk about it either. "Well, after that, you nearly ran over Tony and me, then went right through the wall and into the city."

_Oh, no. _Bruce put his head in his hands. _Not the city. No, no, no -_

"Relax," Carter said, reaching across the small space to put her hand on his shoulder. He shivered at her touch; it had been a long time since anyone had touched his bear skin like that. Or, you know, made contact with him in general. "We got everyone out safely. You just destroyed a few cabs and an Abercrombie and Fitch store, but no one important is going to miss that."

"Did I hurt _you_?"

Carter shook her head. "Not really. My ribs were already broken, and I'm starting to get feeling back in my legs, so that's a pretty good sign. Anyway, about what happened. So, we got everyone out, and then you threw a car at my head - "

"I _what_?"

"Threw a car at my head," she replied like it was nothing. "I stopped it, though, and you weren't all that happy that I did - "

_Actually, _Bruce thought a bit bitterly, _I'm _extremely _happy that you did. Ecstatic, almost._

"- so you charged at me. I made a shield around myself, and you got all confused 'cause you couldn't hit me. I tried calming you, but, um, it wasn't working all that well. Then, all of a sudden Tony was like '_Aliens!_', and then the building came down on top of us."

Bruce could feel his mouth hanging open. "You're going to have to explain the '_Aliens!_' part to me again," he told her.

"I really wish I could," Carter said, "but I don't know. Tony and I's signal started breaking down and I could only catch bits of what he was saying. All I heard was 'aliens' and a lot of cursing. And JARVIS. He was pretty pissed at JARVIS."

Bruce cocked his head to the side. "The computer?"

"Yup." Carter looked down at her hands, and then back at him. The smile from before was gone, and she was suddenly very serious. "You saved me, you know."

Anger boiled up inside of him, and he fought to control it. "Don't say that," he snapped back. It just wasn't true. "I did nothing. But the Hulk... he put you and everyone else in danger." He gestured around them. "This isn't saving, Carter. We're _stuck_."

Carter waited a moment before raising an eyebrow and asking, "You done?" When he didn't say anything, she continued. "Mind if I tell you a story?"

Bruce threw her a skeptical look before changing his point of focus back to the nearest wall. She let out a sigh. "When I was seven, my big sister got sick. Not like cancer sick - that was the one thing we knew it _wasn't_. We had no clue what it was, only that there wasn't any cure we could find, and that it was slowly killing her. My dad even dragged us down to Atlanta, to the Center for Disease Control. They didn't know what to do either.

"But my dad had sort of a back-up plan. See, he was in the army, as a doctor. They hired him to help re-open Operation: Rebirth. Dad actually got pretty close to replicating the serum - it was a little weaker than what the army wanted though, so they stopped his program and gave him a discharge.

"One of the main things of my dad's version of the serum was the medical factor. It made the soldiers they tested it on immune to most diseases, and they healed from wounds faster. My dad thought that maybe his serum would help to make my sister better. So he replicated it, and began some testing.

"It wasn't strong enough. They needed something else. So I suggested just making the serum stronger, and from that, my dad came up with the idea of adding gamma to it. Sort of like giving a steroid to a steroid.

"Well, the animal tests worked (not that I support that, or anything), but we didn't know what would happen if we gave the gamma serum to a human. My sister was quickly getting worse, but my dad refused to administer the serum until he knew what would happen - so I volunteered to take it."

Bruce's eyes widened as he turned to look at her. She'd _volunteered _to take gamma?

Carter met his eyes for moment, then looked down at her feet. "They told me what might happen. That I'd loose part of myself. That I wouldn't be in control anymore."

"Well, that didn't happen to me," Carter said finally. She looked up at him again, and this time, held his gaze. "So, it didn't happen to you."

"What do you mean?" Bruce asked, narrowing his eyes. Where was she going with this?

"You think you're a monster. That you have no influence over it. But it's part of you. You can control it."

He knew his mouth was hanging open again. She couldn't possibly be serious. She couldn't possibly believe that - _especially _since he'd just thrown a car at her head. It was absolutely ridiculous.

Carter shifted uncomfortably. "Never mind," she murmured. "Last time I ever say anything encouraging to you."

"Sorry," Bruce muttered, realizing that that wasn't the reaction she had been hoping for. "I just don't... don't see it that way."

"No, it's you opinion I guess," she said, sighing and shrugging. "To be perfectly honest, I was really just trying to avoid an awkward silence."

* * *

Steve knew that, despite what everyone said about him, he was probably the worst captain in the history of captains. Ever.

Time and time again, he'd led his squad into battle without really thinking about how vulnerable they were. It wasn't that he wasn't concerned about their safety, it was just that he was practically invincible, and he had the shield. It simply hadn't crossed his mind that the rest of the Howling Commandos weren't super-soldiers like he was.

And then there'd been that day on the train. The day when Bucky, his best friend, had _died_. Steve could still remember the look on his face when Bucky had realized that he was falling, and Steve couldn't catch him.

_You could have caught him_, Steve reminded himself angrily. _You could have saved him_. _It's your fault he's dead. Just like it's your fault they're dead._

He wasn't even four hours into leading a new team, and he'd already lost two members. Banner and Carter.

After Loki had escaped, the group Steve had been leading returned to SHIELD with hanging heads. Not long after, Tony had returned (Was he even supposed to leave?), shouting something about aliens and falling buildings. Further questioning had revealed that Tony too had seen that huge ship looming over the city, and that a building had fallen on top of the Hulk (who, somehow, was also Banner) and Carter.

So, that was that. Steve was not meant to lead people. In less than a day, he'd let the bad guy escape and two of his team members had died.

And now, here he was, wandering the streets of the city he had once known by heart, completely lost amongst the wreckage.

New York was so different - even without the debris and overturned cars. There was just so much _more_. More stores, more technology, more loud advertisements, more people, more traffic, more cabs, more bars (especially the bars), more _everything_. Everything was taller, bigger, and, so he'd been told, better. But Steve didn't like it. He liked New York the way he remembered it - just big enough, just loud enough, just crowded enough.

God - where _was _he? He looked around for street signs, and could only find one; Fifth Street. No. This could _not _be Fifth Street. There was too much shopping. Too much jewelry and bags and clothes. Too much consumerism.

There was way too much consumerism in this century. Couldn't people be thankful with what they had and not obsess with what they didn't have? Why was everyone so selfish?

With a little cry of anger, Steve took his frustration out on a pile of rock, kicking it as hard as he could.

The pile _yelped_.

Steve blinked. He was sure he'd heard something. But... rocks didn't talk.

Apparently, this one did. "What was that?" it hissed.

A different voice from the rock replied, "I have no idea."

"What should we do?"

"Umm..." the second voice paused uncertainly. "Sit here and pray it wasn't an alien?"

_Wait a minute._ Steve knew that voice. And come to think of it, he recognized the first person, too.

"Ms. McIntyre? Dr. Banner?" Steve called uncertainly, bending down so that he was face to rock with the pile. "Is that you?"

"Cap!" Carter cried, and Steve heard some movement from inside the pile. "Hey - think you can give us a hand here?"

Steve stepped back, looking at the pile. "What do you want me to do?"

"Pull from the top!" Banner shouted. "Not the sides - it'll cave in that way."

"Can you do that? We weren't sure how much was on top," Carter added.

There were several large stones piled on top, and Steve realized that there was no way they could have gotten out. Pushing up from the inside would have been nearly impossible. But Steve was pretty sure he could do it.

As he moved forward to take the first stone from the top, Steve allowed himself a little smile. He'd gone from two dead teammates to two living, healthy (hopefully) ones.

Maybe he was all _that _ bad at this whole leading thing after all.


	8. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

Agent Phil Coulson had had something of a long day.

First, there'd been the meeting with Stark that morning - well, let's just skip that. All the meetings with Stark went the same way; Stark would show up thirty minutes late, then leave after less than five, making Coulson wonder why he hadn't tasered the billionaire while he'd had the chance.

After that, things had settled into something of a normal routine. He'd shot at McIntyre a couple of time (much to her delight), Natasha had started griping about how there was never enough coffee in the lounge, Clint had come to him with some ridiculous complaint pertaining to how his explosive arrows didn't detonate fast enough, there'd been a discussion with Thor (and Stark, for that matter) about how most people on Earth waited until five o'clock to start drinking, and then, after all that, Fury had sent him check on the Cube.

That was when things had started to go down hill. Fast.

Coulson had barely made it into the Cube room before Loki had popped up out of no where, grabbed the relic, and started blasting things at random. It was really a blur to the SHIELD agent; he'd woken up in the infirmary with a huge bruise on his head. The last thing he remembered was making a panicked call to Fury, and then having a spear thrown at him. The doctor on duty told him that his loss of memory was because he'd gotten a concussion.

But did that matter to Fury? No. Here Coulson was, debilitated and looking for Tony Stark.

Why was it always Stark? Surely someone _else _needed to be babysat. Like Steve. Sure, he didn't get into trouble at all (a bonus in Coulson's mind), but he was new here! He needed help.

Of course, Fury didn't really see it that way. So, Coulson was stuck chasing after a grown man who acted like a five-year old.

"Son of Coul!" a voice boomed from behind him. Coulson winced; he really wasn't in the mood to explain 'Midgardian customs' to Thor right now. "How are you feeling, Son of Coul? I was under the impression that you sustained damage during my brother's escape."

"I'm fine, Thor," Coulson muttered half-heartedly, turning to face the god and give him a tight smile.

Thor beamed. "I am glad to here it, Son of Coul." He patted Coulson on the back with just a bit too much enthusiasm. "Bare your scars proudly, for they are a sign that you are a warrior!"

If the bruise wasn't on his forehead, Coulson would have raised an eyebrow. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and took in the Norse god. "Have you seen Stark anywhere?"

"Aye! The Man of Iron! Indeed, I only just saw the Son of Howard."

"Where, Thor? Where was he going?"

Thor got a confused look on his face. "I cannot say for sure. The Man of Iron had his briefcase with him, and said he was headed to a meeting." Thor gestured to Coulson and added, "But he was not dressed in the same manner you are. He looked rather... what is the word again? Ah, yes! 'Casual'."

Casual? Meeting? _Briefcase_? Coulson heard himself let out a growl. _Goddamnit, Stark!_

"Thank you, Thor," Coulson seethed, barely controlling himself. He turned on one heel, and practically sprinted down the hallway.

Whatever Stark was up to, it wasn't going to end well for him.

* * *

Tony wasn't sure what surprised him more - the invitation, or the address _on _the invitation. Who would have guessed that the god of mischief had an apartment in the Upper East Side?

After double checking the number and confirming that this was apartment 4C, Tony knocked on the door. He took a step back and brought his briefcase to his chest like a shield, just in case Loki opened the door and shot at him. Better safe than sorry.

However, when Loki did open the door, there were no weapons in his hands, despite the fact that he was fully dressed in battle armor. The god gave Tony a curt nod, then stepped to the side, allowing him to come through.

Tony got about five feet into the room before his jaw dropped. This place was _nice_. Like, _Tony approves _nice. The billionaire could easily see himself living there. Maybe that was because it reminded him of his own home, the one in LA.

Tony was still gaping at the pristine marble counter, the clean white rug, the _bar_, the HD TV, and the nice leather couch when Loki interrupted his train of... ogle.

"Would you care for a drink?" Loki asked, gesturing to the bar.

"As long as you won't poison it," the shorter man replied as he eyed Loki, who just let out a laugh. And not a creepy laugh, but a seemingly genuine one.

"It would be in bad form to poison the man I'm trying to negotiate with. Please, Stark, have a seat."

Still suspicious, Tony crossed the oddly clean room and sat down on one of the couches. He tapped his foot impatiently, too nervous and excited to sit still. Unable to take it any longer, Tony hopped to his feet and began wandering around the apartment.

"I would greatly appreciate it if you left my home in one piece," Loki warned. "And stay out of that back room."

Tony turned to face Loki, a little smirk growing on his face. "Why? Do you keep the immortal and beautiful prostitute's back there?"

Loki narrowed his eyes and curled his lip back in something like disgust. "My wife - my _pregnant _ wife - is trying to take a nap. I assure you, disturbing her would be worse than invoking _my _wrath."

"_What_?" Tony spluttered. Wife? Carter was serous about that? And _pregnant_? Someone had let Loki, the creeper god, get them pregnant? "You're serious?"

"Quite," Loki replied, coming around the counter and offering a drink to Tony. Tony took it gratefully - he could tell he was going to need it. "I did not invite you here to talk about my personal life, Stark. I asked that you come here so that we may end this war before it truly begins."

Tony took another gulp of whatever it was Loki had given him to drink. Rum? Whisky? At this point, he really didn't care. "Having second thoughts about taking over the world?" Tony asked, another smirk forming. "Doubting that you can?"

"Oh I assure you," Loki replied, a smile of his own on his face, "I am most defiantly capable of taking over your pathetic little realm."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Let's do a quick head count. We've got two of the world's best assassins, a guy with staggering anger management issues, a girl who throws indestructible frisbees of doom, a demi-god, a super solider, ... and me. And somehow - " Tony began walking around again in a nonchalant manner " - you've managed to piss us all of. You're really not worried?"

Loki's smile grew wider and he brought his glass to his lips. "I have an army," he told Tony simply.

"We have a Hulk."

The smile faltered slightly, and Tony could almost imagine what the god was thinking: _What is this 'Hulk' the amazingly handsome and awesome Tony Stark speaks of? What could make this brilliant playboy so cocky?_

OK, fine. It probably wasn't anything like that, but Loki most likely was a bit confused about the Hulk.

"Alright, well, you've dragged me over here," Tony said, leaning up against the wall. "What's your proposal?"

His confidence returning, Loki replied, "Surrender to me now, and I won't completely _destroy _your world. Despite what you believe, you will not be able to protect it."

"If we can't protect the Earth," Tony informed him with such authority that it surprised the billionaire himself, "you can be _damn _sure we'll avenge it."

"Such confidence for a mortal. It will either serve you well, or be your downfall." Loki, like Tony, lazily advanced. "Perhaps if I were to tell you plans for the Earth, you would be more willing to surrender it to me. You see, I seek only to make it a better place. Is that not what you and your company do, Stark?"

Well, _yeah_. That was what Stark Industries did - now especially, since they'd stopped making weapons. World peace would be nice. Still, Tony couldn't tell if Loki was lying or not, and he was positive that they had _very _different ideas of what 'a better place' was, so he gave the god a flippant response.

"We have presidential elections for that," Tony said. "Come back in November."

Loki bristled. "Do you honestly believe that your president could make a bigger difference than I?" Loki stalked towards Tony, who found himself in the uncomfortable position of being cornered. "Do you really think that one man, ruling one place, can change the world in such a drastic manner? I have seen the direction your world is heading in - you mortals have put it in danger. _I, _on the other hand, am a _god_. _I _can rule this world successfully."

Tony hated to admit, but Loki had a point. It wasn't a good, well-thoughout point, but a point nonetheless. But he wasn't about to give up all hope and hand Earth over to an evil, deranged god.

"I hate to tell you this," Tony said, slipping away from Loki, "but most people don't react too well to psychotic dictators."

Loki's eyes blazed and he rushed Tony with blinding speed. "_I am not crazy_!"

With that, Loki grabbed Tony by the shirt and hurled him out the window, followed by his briefcase.

* * *

Coulson was going to _kill _Stark when he found him. _If_ he found him.

There'd been no sign of Iron Man on the radar, so Coulson had had to assume that wherever he was, Stark wasn't suited-up.

Which had meant that the SHIELD agent was going to have to look for him on foot.

He'd been roaming the streets of New York for almost an hour and a half, and still, nothing. Coulson had looked in every bar, every strip club, every Stark store, and even FAO Schwartz, but there was still no sign of the billionaire.

Coulson ran a hand through his thinning hair. _You used to have hair_, he reminded himself, scowling at nothing. _And then you took the job with SHIELD. You could have been a lawyer - a lawyer with a full head of hair, but _nooo_. You wanted _adventure_._

Adventure. Please. The most action he'd seen in the last year (aside from the Loki incident that morning) was the time he'd stopped the gas station robbery on the way to Thor's hammer. _You might have gotten more action if you'd asked for that girl's number. She would have given it to you, since you saved her life._

Coulson just sighed and kept walking.

Suddenly, from up above, he heard the sound of shattering glass, followed by a familar voice letting out a string of panicked curses. _What the hell, Stark?_ He looked up to see the man in question falling from the fourth story, screaming like a girl as he did.

Coulson jumped backwards as Stark came crashing down on the roof of a car in front of him.

"Stark?" Coulson asked, trying to keep the worry out of his voice. He didn't want for the guy to think he actually _cared _about him. "Are you alright?"

Stark let out a groan, and shifted as best he could. He muttered something that Coulson didn't quite catch.

"What?"

"Briefcase," Stark muttered, moving his head slightly towards the building he had just fallen from.

Coulson turned around just in time to see a shiny silver briefcase coming at him. With a little yelp, he rolled out of the way.

"Owww," Stark moaned. Coulson looked up to see the briefcase had landed right on top of him.

_You found him. Now, how are you going to get him back to base?_

Huh. He hadn't thought of that. He could only think of one way - and there was no way in hell that Phil Coulson was going to give Tony Stark a piggyback ride.


	9. Chapter Seven

**AN: OK, so, at this point, I've decided just to get everything back up as quickly as I can, which means no more combing through for small errors and things like that. If you do see an error, let me know, and I'll do my best to fix it as quickly as I can, but for now, I'll just be scanning for anything obvious.**

**Thanks!**

**- Mac**

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

_It didn't bother Loki at all. Actually, that was not entirely true. He couldn't stand it when Thor ran around the castle shouting 'BOOM' and making rainstorms for all the mortals that asked. You would think that Thor, who at fifteen (fifteen_ hundred_, that is)__ had reached manhood, would be more mature than that. Even thirteen year old Loki had more sense._

_But no, it didn't bother him that all the other gods were busy answering prayers today. It certainly didn't bother him that he had yet to get a request from the mortals. They were mortals after all; who needed them?_

_And that was why Loki was reading in top of the observatory. Because he was free to. Because the mortals didn't need him, and he certainly had no use for them. Why should he have to grant their requests and be stripped of his free time for a day? He was much happier this way._

_"Loki?" his mother's voice called. "Loki, dear, are you up here?"_

_Loki was reluctant to put his book down (this new projecting spell was fascinating), but he closed it anyway. "Yes, Mother."_

_Frigga's head appeared in the stairway. "May I come in?"_

_"Of course."_

_His mother glided across the room and situated herself next to him. She began to braid her golden hair, and for a moment, Loki wished he had her hair. Thor's hair. The hair Odin once had. Only he and Hogun had dark hair. Well, Sif too, but not originally. A grin crossed Loki's face just thinking about the prank he had pulled._

_Noticing her son smile, Frigga did the same. "Are you getting a prayer, Loki?" she inquired._

_Loki looked utterly bewildered. "Of course not. Why would I even want one?"_

_"Oh, my son," Frigga said with just a hint of sadness. She put an arm around his shoulders, and Loki resisted the urge to cringe; he was almost grown. He didn't his mother to hug him. It was embarrassing. Not sensing his discomfort, Frigga continued, saying, "I know you may not believe it, but there is a certain joy that comes with helping people. A certain... sense of fulfillment."_

_"I highly doubt that," he snorted._

_With a heavy sigh, Frigga leaned in and kissed her son's cheek. "One day, you'll understand." She stood and left without another word._

_Loki sat there, rubbing his cheek where his mother had kissed him. He simply couldn't believe that helping people would make him feel good. Wouldn't helping people involve him giving something of his own up? Why should he have to sacrifice something? They were mortals. Although he would never admit it, Loki felt that Odin had given up his rule of Midgard a little to easily. _

_He opened his book and began to study again._

* * *

_Three hours later, Loki was still in the observatory._

_He'd finished the book and was now attempting the spell. With a roll of his neck and shoulders, Loki reached out into the darkness for his magic. He slowed his breathing and concentrated, grabbing as much of the smoke-like substance as he could. In his mind, he pictured himself, standing in front of him. _

_Feeling confident, Loki opened his eyes and gasped._

_In front of him stood a mirror image of himself. The other Loki grinned and waved. Loki, the original, reached out to touch his dopplelganger. _

Please. Please.

_Startled, Loki whirled around, looking for the speaker. The observatory was still empty as far as he could tell. _

_"Thor?" Loki called. "Thor, was that you?"_

Please.

_No, that wasn't Thor. The voice feminine. "Sif?"_

_When no one answered his calls, Loki turned back to his double, only to find that losing his concentration had also made him lose his projection. Loki growled in frustration. It had taken him nearly seven tries to get that!_

Please.

_He stiffened. Somehow, Loki knew that the voice wouldn't leave until he listened to it. He waited for it to speak again._

Please_, it begged._ Please. Lie. I want to lie.

_Loki's clear green eyes widened. No, he thought. It can't be. Could it? _

_A prayer. In all his years, he'd never heard one before. However, there was no mistaking that desperate, pleading tone; somewhere, there was a mortal who wanted help from the god of lies and mischief. Loki couldn't wrap his head around it._

Please.

_Loki growled. Would that voice ever go away? No, he realized. It wouldn't leave until he answered it. Loki reached out to the voice, trying to place its location. Once he felt he had a good enough grasp on it, he let the darkness take him to it. _

* * *

_When Loki emerged from the darkness, he found himself in a pristine room. He wrinkled his nose at the clean smell. On the wall opposite him, a steel bed was positioned underneath a window, from which the moon could be seen. Curious beeping devices and plastic bags filled with liquids hung nearby, and on the bed sat a young girl, about his age._

_"Please," the girl choked out. She stared up at the stars, a lost expression on her face. "I want to be able to lie."_

_Curious, Loki took a tentative step forward. "Why?"_

_The girl whirled around. Her blue eyes were wide, and her mouth formed a perfect, comical 'o'. Loki internally winced when he saw how shallow and sickly her tear-soaked face was. She blinked several times, as if she didn't believe he was real._

_"Why?" he repeated. "Why do you want to be able to lie?"_

_"I-I..." She cocked her head to the side, like a confused puppy. It was both pathetic and somewhat adorable. "Who are you?"_

_Loki took in the mortal before him. He was a prince, a god, and she was a mere girl. Did she really have any right to demand that he reveal his identity? No, she didn't. But she was the first person to ever ask for his help, and that made her special. Loki pressed his lips together._

_"I am Loki, the god of lies and mischief. I've heard you're prayer."_

_Perhaps he had been expecting for her to drop to her knees and worship him, for he was surprised that she pressed a hand to her forehead and muttered, "That fever is damaging my brain."_

_Loki swiftly crossed the room and put a hand to her forehead. She gasped, but then side in relief and wrapped her own hand around his, pressing it down more._

_"You're hands are cold. They feel good," she whispered. "Oh, God. I'm creating realistic illusions."_

_"I assure you, I am no illusion," Loki said. "But you have yet to answer my question. Why is that you want to be able to lie? Why do you wish to deceive those around you?"_

_She looked up at him from around his hand. "I want for them to believe me when I say that I'm not hurting anymore."_

_Shocked, Loki took a step back and took her in. She was abnormally skinny, and paler than he was. Her body trembled and her bright red hair was limp and covered in sweat. "You hurt?"_

_"No," she answered, glaring at him._

_Loki chuckled. "Yes, you are in need of my assistance. You are an absolutely terrible liar."_

_"That's what my sister tells me," the girl said glumly. "I just... It's... They hurt when I hurt, you know?" She looked at him with those large blue eyes again. "I don't want to hurt my family anymore."_

_"You're sick." It wasn't a question, but she nodded in response._

_"They don't know what I have," she explained. "At first, my dad thought it was cancer, but he looked into it, and... he doesn't know what I have. He quit his job and dragged the whole family down here. He's trying to fix it."_

_"And yet you don't ask for a cure," Loki said skeptically. "You ask for the ability to lie." He narrowed his eyes. "Why?"_

_The girl shrugged. "I know my dad will save me. He's brilliant; he'll find a cure. I don't want for him to suffer while he looks."_

_Loki thought it over for less than a second. "I will answer your prayer," he announced. "They will believe you."_

_"That's nice." She reached up and patted him on the cheek. "It's a shame you're not real; you're pretty cute."_

_Loki frowned. She was sick, true, but did she really believe that he was just a figment of her imagination? He opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by a third party._

_"Lily, I got you some-" There was the sound of a cup crashing to the floor and breaking. Loki spun to see a little girl, years younger than him, standing in the doorway with wide blue eyes. Lily's eyes._

_"Jesus Christ!" the child exclaimed. Her eyes darted back and forth between Loki and Lily. Then, in one swift movement, she grabbed a sharp object from a try near Lily's bed and began advancing on Loki. "Who the hell are you?"_

_"Carter!" Lily chided in a voice that was slightly higher pitched than before; Loki assumed that was from shock. "Who taught that word? And don't use it!"_

_Without taking her eyes away from Loki, Carter replied. "I saw it on TV or something. But Lily, there's a boy in your room. A boy!"_

_Lily blinked rapidly. "You see him too?"_

_"Of course." Carter turned her head to look at sister. With the hand that held the needle, she jabbed at Loki. "He's right there." The child looked back to Loki and poked his chest with needle. "What the hel- I mean, what are you doing here?"_

_Loki, who would not allow his fear to take control of his features (the small girl was shockingly bold, he would give her that), simply raised an eyebrow and pushed the needle away with one finger. "I am a friend of your sisters. I've come to give her cards from myself and our classmates. My name is Luke," he said smoothly._

_"Bull," Carter stated._

_"Carter!" Lily exclaimed again._

_The little girl turned to her sister with an exasperated look and sound. "But, Lily, he's lying."_

_"You could sense that I was lying?" Loki was both horrified and impressed; horrified because he had been found out by a mere mortal child and impressed because she had seen through his lie. No one could tell when he was lying. He was the god of lies, after all._

_"Duh."_

_Loki had no idea what that meant, but the tone was easy enough to understand. "How?" he asked sharply._

_"You look like you're lying," Carter said. "You don't sound like it, but I can tell, 'cause you look like it." Then, she added, "Plus our old school was in Boston, so..."_

_"You really are the god of lies, aren't you?" Lily whispered from her spot on the hospital bed. She looked at him in utter disbelief and awe. "And you came to help me. To answer my prayer."_

_"Of course." Loki gave her a reassuring smile._

_"'Ask and you shall receive'," Carter murmured. Then, with bright eyes and a crooked smile, she looked up at Loki and asked, "Hey, do you think you could get me a puppy?"_

_"Um, no."_

_The child was only disappointed for a minute. "How 'bout a pony?"_

_"No."_

_"Well, then. You suck."_

_"Carter! You can't talk to people like that!"_

_Carter rolled her eyes. She crossed her small arms over her chest and glared at her sister. "I do what I want, Lily."_

_"Look," Lily sighed. "I need to talk to Loki. Could you maybe go get more tea? Please?"_

_"Fine." Carter was at the door before she turned and said, "This was probably supposed to be some sort of stealth mission, right?"_

_"I don't quite understand," Loki replied, narrowing his eyes in search for a double meaning._

_Lily wheezed out a little laugh. "Yes. Don't tell anyone about him, OK?"_

_Carter shrugged. "Whatever. I'll see you later, Lil." With that, she left._

_"That was the strangest child I have ever met," Loki said, turning to Lily. "Do all children in this realm behave that way?"_

_"No," Lily answered with a chuckle. "Just her. She's a lot smarter than most eight year olds. Or people my age. Or even people my dad's age. Dad jokes that if she could reach the gas peddles and get a job, she would have left home by the time she was two."_

_Loki cocked an eyebrow. "Gas peddles?"_

_"Yeah, like, on a car?"_

_He stared blankly at her again._

_"That's alright, I'll teach you this stuff," Lily said happily. She scooted forward on her cot and smiled up at him. "Would you like that?"_

_"Very much," Loki replied smoothly. "But I fear that my time here on Midgard is limited. I only came to answer you. I must return."_

_"Oh." Her large eyes seemed to get a glassy look to them, and he suddenly felt horrible for saying that. "I just thought that maybe you'd come back and visit. Check to see how well I was lying and all."_

_Turning on the charm, Loki stepped forward and took her warm hand in his. Gods, she was warm. Loki had not been warm in a long, long time. "If that is your wish. What was it your deranged sister said? 'Ask and you shall receive'."_

_"Really? You'll come back?" The enthusiasm in Lily's voice was unbridled, and it made Loki smile._

_"Of course, my dear."_

_"You won't get in trouble with the other gods and anything?"_

_"I believe I can quote your sister again. 'I do what I want'."_

_"Yay!" Without warning, Lily threw her arms around Loki's neck. So warm..._

_And just as suddenly, she pulled away. She looked at Loki with wide, terrified eyes. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to... I just... You're a god so I should... I'm sorry!"_

_"It's quite alright," Loki chuckled. What he didn't tell her is that he wished she would have held on for just a little bit longer. Instead, he touched her bright red cheeks again. "I will return for you. I promise."_

_He took several steps back and let the darkness consume him once again._

* * *

"The negotiations did not go quite as smoothly as I thought they would, dearest," Loki said, remembering the stunned and priceless look on Stark's face as he crashed through the window. "I fear that things are going to become... complicated."

Lily's hands were folded over her bloated stomach. Yearning for some of her warmth, Loki reached down and gently took one of hers in his. Almost instantaneously, a tingling feeling spread through his veins, and the cold left him.

Loki cocked his head to the side and simply looked at her. She was so _beautiful_. Not like the women in Asgard; blonde, strong, and big. No, with her hair like a wild fire, her porcelain skin interrupted only by freckles and her red warmth, petite little Lily was different, and he liked different. He himself was different.

"Have I told you lately how lovely you are?" Loki asked, though he was sure she could not hear, and positive she would not respond. "My love, you are mine. All mine."

Shocked by his own words, Loki shook his head a little. He was never that honest with people; unless, of course, it _sounded _good and he wanted something. But what could a girl in a magic-induced coma give him?

"Things are about to get better, Lily," he murmured softly, running his finger tips along her delicate cheekbones. "I will make things better.


	10. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight**

Bruce wasn't talking to her.

But Carter could tell he was thinking about something - and hard, too. Maybe what she'd said had gotten to him. Probably not, though; she'd never been very good at the whole 'motivational' thing. She usually ruined it with a joke at the end. Could you really blame her though? Being serious was just way too hard.

At least Steve was attempting small talk - actually, it wasn't small talk at all. It was more like old people rambling. It must have been a generational thing, because Steve had been going on about the Brooklyn Dodgers for almost twenty minutes now. He didn't seem to realize that the Dodgers had moved to LA - and Carter wasn't sure if she wanted to tell him. On the one hand, it could stun him into silence. On the other, it could send his rant into a different direction. It was a pretty big risk...

"McIntyre!"

Carter had never been happier to hear Coulson's clearly upset voice. With an almost grin on her face, she turned to face the SHIELD agent. _Oh, Coulson_, she thought. _You're my hero. And if you didn't look like you were about to kill me, I'd give you a hug._

The fuming agent walked right up to her, getting in her face as best he could. Carter had to give him credit; for someone who was about an inch shorter than she was, he was doing a pretty good job of looking intimidating. "What the _hell_, McIntyre? Why didn't you mention that your _sister _was married to a god who's hellbent on taking over the world?"

"It didn't really come up in everyday conversation," Carter replied automatically. Coulson narrowed his eyes at her, and she rubbed the back of her neck.

"This is serious," Coulson snarled. "You retained information on a wanted criminal! You could-"

"Look." Carter glanced over Coulson's head to see Tony and Thor coming up, both with curious expressions on their faces. Tony gave her a prompting look, like he wanted for her to continue with the story. "I only found out today... Or at least, I think today. What time is it? Anyways, at the time it didn't matter - Loki had already been captured."

"And he _escaped_. Because of your sister. If we had known about them, we might have been able to prevent this whole thing from happening!" Coulson, who was absolutely livid, gave her a little push.

Carter was about to shove him right back, when Bruce stepped forward. "Don't touch her," he said warningly, his tone dangerously low. His face was distorted by anger, and he took in rhythmic, deep breaths, shaking all over as he fought to remain in control.

"Thanks, Bruce." She threw him an appreciative smile. Then, as she turned back to Coulson, her look darkened. "I didn't think my sister was going to break him out. If I'd known, I would have said something."

"Ah," Tony said, holding up a finger. "Can I point out that maybe we're looking at this the wrong way? That maybe this is a _good _thing?"

Everyone gave Tony the '_dude, what you smokin'_?' look. Tony, sensing that everyone thought he was being crazier than usual, held his hands up in defense. "OK, I meant that it's good that Lily is _with _Loki, not that Loki got out."

"You think it's a good thing that my sister is with a psychopath." Carter folded her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow.

"OK, let me rephrase that again. Maybe we can use _Lily _to find _Loki_. Right?" He looked at them all, like he was waiting for them to get it.

Bruce spoke first, his voice full of skepticism. "You mean, like, _track _her? Like with a chip or something?"

"Yes!" Tony gestured to Bruce like he'd just won the lottery or Nobel Prize. "Exactly!"

"Tony, people don't _have _tracking devices implanted in them. Dogs do."

The billionaire's face fell.

But Carter thought that he might be on to something. "Actually... that might work."

"What?" Bruce's eyes widened. "Are you saying you _implanted a chip in your sister_?"

"No." Carter shook her head frantically, pretty much horrified by the idea. "But there may be another way to track her. Remember what I told you about the gamma in the serum? The radiation would show up on radar... probably."

Tony clapped her on the back. "It would! Gamma sticks out - that's how we tracked the Hulk! All the Hulk-Buster vehicles I made had those kinds of radars, so that it was super easy to find hi-" Tony glanced over at Bruce, who was glaring at him intensely. "You know what, never mind. Point is, yeah, that would work."

"All right," Carter said, rubbing her hands together and looking back and forth between the two geniuses in the room. "Let's get started."

* * *

"I still do not understand." Thor leaned closer over Carter's shoulder, his eyes focusing in on the small screen she was holding. "That beeping green dot - that will lead us to your sister? What manner of magic is that?"

"Science!" Tony exclaimed, snatching the tracker from Carter's hands. "And according to science, we're pretty close." He stroked his beard in the same way that villains in Disney movies do. "Huh. That's weird. It looks like we're headed to Loki's apartment. I would have thought that he woulda packed up and moved outta there..."

Carter frowned and looked at the billionaire. "Really, Tony? You couldn't have just taken us to the apartment first? Why didn't you think of that?"

"Why didn't _you_ think of that?" he accused, looking overly offended.

"I didn't _know _about any apartment!"

"Oh." Tony glanced around awkwardly. "Right."

Silence took over once again as the Avengers (Excluding Bruce, who had elected to stay behind, muttering something about steroids... Carter had been a little concerned.) trudged through the destroyed streets of New York. Soon, Barton and Romanov began a hushed conversation, and Thor had begun to randomly point out every strange 'Midgardian' thing he saw.

Carter almost wished Steve would start talking about a baseball team that didn't exist anymore. Baseball was good, even _really old_ baseball. Maybe he knew something about the Brav-

Without warning, a car exploded in front of them.

Carter automatically jumped to the side, avoiding the blast. Crouching behind a mail box, she open her hand, forming a thin green plate. With the disk-hand held behind her in the perfect position the be flung forward at a moments notice, she peeked over the top of the blue bin.

The burning taxi sat alone in the middle of the road. Actually, it wasn't totally alone; Thor, with a smoldering cape, stood stunned next to it. A now suited up Tony stepped forward, tentatively, followed by Captain America, brandishing his star-spangled shield. The _normal _members of their group joined them, with Barton staring dumb-struck at the wreckage, like he couldn't believe the tables had turned and someone had shot at _him. _

Carter came out from her hiding spot, the disc still held at her side. She looked around at the rest of the group. "Anyone know what did that?"

"I'm guessing it was the group of aliens over there," Tony's robot-like voice said as he pointed over her shoulder. "Led by Loki. Oh, hey! Guys guess what - I found Loki!"

The first thing Carter thought when she turned around was _Are those guys wearing _gas masks_?. _The next was, _Wait... those are their faces. Whaaaaat?_

The aliens were black. Literally black. Their large, flat inky eyes bulged from their long faces, and their noses hooked over the spot where their mouths should be. In short... they were creepy.

But you know what freaked Carter out more? The guy who was married to her sister, her _brother in law_, smirking unattractively and wielding a glowing, magic spear.

"Oh shit," Barton muttered. He pressed the communication device on his shoulder and spoke into it. "Hey, Coulson. It's Clint. We're gonna need some back up. Like, _now_."

* * *

"Dr. Banner."

Bruce didn't turn around to face Fury when the director spoke. Instead, he leaned in closer to the computer screen, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as they began to fall forward again. He was so close; all he needed was a little adjustment here, and maybe some tweaking of the numbers there, and he had it. It would be perfec-

"Dr. Banner," Fury repeated, pulling up a chair and sitting down. "I'd like to apologize for earlier."

God. This guy just would not quit, would he? Bruce tapped in one last number before pushing back from the desk and turning to face Fury. He crossed his arms over his chest.

"I was out of line. You have to understand; I was doing what I thought was best." Fury held a porcelain mug out to Bruce. "The least I could do to make up for it was to bring you this."

Bruce took the mug and inhaled deeply. Mmmm. Coffee. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had coffee. Actually, he could. It had been almost ten years ago, on the night before the experiment went wrong. He'd spent the whole night double-checking the math and downing gallons of the stuff. God. He missed coffee. Shame he couldn't have it.

Bruce opened his mouth to tell Fury that caffeine was a bad idea, but the SHIELD director beat him to it. With a rare smile, Fury said, "Don't worry, doctor. It's caffeine free; I took your, uh, _medical condition _into account."

"Oh." Bruce looked down at the cup in surprise, then back to Fury. "Thank you."

Fury gave him a stiff nod and exited the room without another word.

Turning back to the computer, Bruce ran the simulation one more time. It was crazy, what he was planning, but it just might work. Fight fire with fire. Steroids with steroids. Gamma with gamma. Yes, using such a highly concentrated dose of gamma could kill him. Or permanently turn him into the Hulk. Or give him gamma poisoning and kill him slowly. But the chances of those happening where slim. It was much more likely that this would do nothing or cure him. He just needed to be _sure_ that that was the case. Boy, it was going to be a long night. Bruce took a large gulp of coffee.

Almost immediately, he could tell something was wrong. His mind began racing, and his heart started pounding despite his best attempts to slow it. It gained speed, it gained momentum, and with it, the Hulk gained strength. Bruce could feel it breaking free of it's bonds. His last thought before the beast was unleashed was this:

That. Was. Not. _Decaf_.

* * *

"You wanna take him?" Tony whispered nervously out of the side of his mouth as he stared at the crazy god in front of them.

"Yes," Carter hissed, her eyes trained on Loki. Tony could only imagine what she was going through. First she finds out her sister is married. And pregnant. With a guy who's trying to take over the world and kill you. That would definitely ruin his day/week/month/year/life. Other than the fact that she was ready to murder Loki, Carter was reacting pretty well.

Loki spread his arms out wide and gestured to the mass of freaky elephant-aliens behind him. "My army," he announced. Then, over dramatically, he searched the Avengers. "I don't see your Hulk, Stark. Oh, dear. Whatever will you do without him?"

"We're more than capable of taking you down," Captain America said, stepping forward and into a defensive and intimidating stance.

Loki just laughed at the patriot. "Oh, really? And who are you? Hmm... you can't be one of the super killers Stark mentioned; your outfit is much too loud for that. Perhaps you're the one with 'staggering anger management issues' or the one who throws 'discs of doom'?"

"I'll show you discs of doom," Carter muttered, opening her hand at her side. Tony placed one armored hand on her shoulder.

"Ah, yes! You must be the super-solider!" Loki let out a delighted laugh. "The best warrior of your realm, I presume. I do hope you don't disappoint."

Steve narrowed his eyes. "I'll try not to."

Loki just chuckled again. He gave them all a once-over glance. "I shall give you one last chance to surrender. I doubt that you would survive an attack from my army. Give in now and I will spare your pathetic, mortal lives."

Tony tried to look around Loki to see just how big his army was. The answer? He didn't know. Because he couldn't see the _end _of it. As far as tony could tell, the alien invasion squad went on forever. He hated to admit it, but that surrender option was looking more and more appealing.

Until a now familiar cry of rage pierced the air.

Slightly panicked but trying to remain the illusion of being calm and collected, Loki narrowed his eyes. "What was _that_?" he spat.

"That," Carter said with a large grin, "was our Hulk."


	11. Chapter Nine

**Chapter Ten**

After that, all hell broke loose - and it started when Loki took an arrow to the knee, courtesy of Barton. Carter glanced over to see him looking extremely pleased with himself.

"Ga- attack!" Loki screeched, thrusting his finger at the Avengers. With the other hand, he yanked the arrow out and hurled it back at Barton with such force that when the archer ducked to avoid it, it impaled itself so deeply into the wall behind him that Carter couldn't see it anymore.

As the alien army advanced, the Avengers jumped into action. From next to her, Tony powered up and took off, flying over the aliens and blasting them. Thor whirled his hammer menacingly, while Steve had begun smacking anyone who came at him in the face with his shield. The actual SHIELD agents sent bullets and arrows into the fray.

Carter opened her hand, forming her usual disc expanding it so that it was about the size of a sewer cap. She crouched down low, swinging her arm back as she did. Leaping forward, she spun in a tight circle and brought her arm around with it, releasing the force-filed like a discus. It flew _through _the alien army, slicing anything it hit in half. Carter winced as yellowy guts spilled everywhere. _The city cleaning crew isn't going to like that..._

The team continued like that for a while, taking down more aliens than they could count. But no matter how many were disintegrated, cut in half, struck by lightning, hit with exploding arrows, shot, or smacked, there was always another to take it's place. By the time Steve had resorted to using a gun, Carter was covered in slime and leathery bits of skin. She let out a disgusted noise as she tried to shake some of it off.

From behind her, she heard a low, rumbling growl. A shiver went up Carter's spine. Slowly, she turned, disc in the palm of her hand.

Towering above her was a jet black wolf. It's muscles rippled as it crouched down to get him her face, it's huge teeth bared and bloody. The smart thing to do would have been to throw the disc into it's open mouth, probably killing it, but Carter was too stunned (and terrified) to do anything but stare at it. It's scarlet eyes narrowed, and it let out another earth-shaking growl.

Delighted laughter pierced the air. "Ask and you shall receive!" Loki cackled, sounding far too happy for Carter's liking.

_Oh, come on!_ she thought angrily. Now _he gets me a puppy? Really?_

"Fenrir!" Loki's voice rang out again. "Attack!"

With a sharp breath, Carter shot her hands out in front of her, forming the largest shield she could. The wolf, already airborne, crashed head-first into it. The shield _shattered_.

Time seemed to slow for Carter after that. Panic filled her. The shield had _shattered_. Her gamma powered, indestructible force-field and failed, cracked, _broken_. That had never happened before. And Carter could only stare helplessly, shocked, as the wolf continued and knocked her to the ground.

As soon as she was trapped underneath it's huge paws, she finally found the ability to react. She struggled under it's weight, trying to get her hands unstuck long enough the hurl a disc at it's face. But it was no use - the thing weighed a _ton_.

Carter's heart began to race as panic, anger, and fear took over. Strength flooded through her, and a small smile flicked across her face. She pushed back harder on the wolf, gaining just enough ground -

And then it snapped at her. Carter recoiled immediately, flattening against the ground in an almost useless attempt to avoid it's teeth. It's blood red eyes met hers, and with one final growl, it went in for the kill. Carter squeezed her eyes shut.

A new, _angry _growl filled the air. Carter heard the wolf let out a sharp yelp, and then, there was nothing on top of her.

Carter opened her eyes, and rolled to the side. She grinned wildly when she saw what had saved her.

There was Bruce (or rather Hulk), wrestling the wolf. With another cry of rage, Bruce slammed his giant fist into the beast's jaw, causing a bone-crunching sound. The wolf howled, and responded by sinking it's teeth into his shoulder. Immediately, Bruce yelled in pain, straightened up, and tried to shake the animal from him. No matter what he did, the thing didn't let go.

That was when Carter decided to do something really stupid, even by her standards.

Strength still coursing through her, she rushed forward. Tensing her leg muscles, she leaped upward, flying towards the wolf. She slammed into it, then wrapped her arms around it's thick neck, pulling backwards as hard as she could. The wolf lost it's iron hold, and the two of them began to fall backwards towards the ground.

Until Carter was plucked from the air at the last minute. She turned her head to see Bruce, looking down at her with a look of... concern? It seemed like concern. His brows were drawn close together, and his bright green eyes, the same color as hers now, bore into her. Carter shot him a smile.

With a grunt, Bruce lowered her down to the ground in an oddly gentle manner. Carter staggered to her feet, then turned, hands spread open, ready to join the fight again. Bruce seemed to have other plans, though. He placed himself between her and the wolf, one arm back behind him as he tried to shield her.

The wolf, back on it's feet, hunched it's large shoulder's and bared it's teeth. Carter peeked further around the green wall of muscle in front of her, only to wish she hadn't. Bruce's green blood was dripping from it's teeth, and Carter felt herself pull a face.

To match the beast's aggressive stance, Bruce crouched lower and let out a low, warning growl. The animal's eyes seemed to narrow as it snarled. In almost perfect unison, the two of them lunged at each other.

* * *

Having gotten past the last of his brother's bodyguards, Thor, wielding Mjolnir, advanced on Loki. The younger god grinned delightedly, waving Thor forward.

"Come now, brother!" Loki shouted above the fighting and explosions. "I believe it's time for a rematch! I think you'll find that I've evened the playing out quite a bit since our last bout!"

Thor shook his head slowly. "Nay. Brother, please - I beg of you. We can... work this out!" Gaining confidence after that use of a mortal phrase, Thor held his arms open in a peaceful gesture. "You do not need to destroy a world. What is it that you hope to achieve by doing so?"

"Ha! Work this out? Thor, _please_. Are you really so blind to believe that we can talk about this? Or is it stupidity?" Loki's lip curled up into an unattractive sneer. "The time for negotiations is past! I have given you your chance. Earth _will _be mine."

"What is it that has spurred your desire for destruction?" Thor was pleading now, pleading for his brother to see the error of his ways. Pleading for him to come back. "Was it finding out your heritage? Loki, Mother and Father love you-"

"NO!" Enraged, Loki used his spear to send a huge blast of blue energy at Thor, who raised his hammer to block it. "_Lies_! They never loved me - a monster! They _used _me! Father said so himself. I am nothing but a useless, stolen relic to them!"

Thor took another step forward. "Your anger impairs your sight, brother. Mother and Father mourned you, as did I, after your fall from the Bifrost. They care deeply for you. Please-"

"Be _quiet_!" Loki sent another bolt of blue at Thor. The thunderer used Mjolnir to bat it away. Frustrated that his last two attacks had failed, Loki dropped his spear and from thin air produced a small, bright blue cube.

Thor froze where he was. That was the Cube. The one SHIELD had been so worried about, the one that he, the Man of Iron, and the Son of Rogers had all recognized. It radiated such power, such evil. Bad feelings and thoughts began to creep up on the god, and he fought to remain in control of his own mind.

Loki let out a deranged chuckle. "Oh, yes, brother. You are right to fear me, to fear this."

"Loki." Thor shook himself out of his trance and took another step forward, this one more desperate than the last. "The Cube is clouding your judgment brother. I warn you, your thoughts are not your own. That power - it is too much for one person, god or mortal, to handle."

Loki's emerald eyes blazed. "You _fool_. I _control _the Cube! It's power is mine! I am invinci-"

His words were lost as he suddenly fell forward, his back smoking dangerously. Thor stared in shock at his fallen brother, unconscious and breathing unevenly. Someone had hurt him. Someone had hurt his little brother.

It was Thor's eyes that blazed this time as he looked up to Loki's attacker. The thing (and that truly was the only way for Thor to describe him because was no man, but he was also not yet a beast) placed a booted foot on Loki's smoldering back, then leaned down and picked up the Cube, which Loki had dropped. After laughing quietly, he looked up to Thor, his yellow eyes dramatically showing against his bright red skin.

"Actually, little god," he whispered just loud enough for Thor to hear, but addressing Loki. "_I _am invincible. You vere simply a pawn in my game. And you have played your part vell."

The red man looked back to Thor, narrowing his eyes and giving the god a creepy, skeletal smile. "You have four hours. Bring me Captain America. Or vatch this vorld burn along vith him!"

* * *

Everything was murky. The world was a blur, a disoriented, muffled blur.

Lily felt like she was stuck underwater, trying to fight her way to the surface. And when she got there, she would be able to see things clearly again. She would be able to act on her own, to finally break this spell that was holding her back.

She would be able to go to Loki. And give him a piece of her mind.

But until then, she was stuck here in bed, barely aware of her surroundings. She was so tired - so ready to give in and sleep. She couldn't give up though; she had to stay awake, for the baby's sake. She couldn't give in.

Were those... were those voices? Lily strained her eyes, trying to pick up on the conversation transpiring around her.

"-in this room," one voice said.

Another one asked, "Why does the Skull want her?"

"Leverage," the first replied. "In case the god does something stupid. He want's to keep him in line."

_Oh no_. Her. It was _her _they wanted. And the baby. The baby. She had to protect the baby.

Their faces appeared above her. Monstrous beings, with horrible, soulless eyes, and skin as black as night. She could just make out their sharp teeth as one of them grinned at her.

_NO! _

And then her world was one fire. Flames licked at her skin, not harming her, not touching her. Bright colors danced before her eyes, and Lily drew in a sharp breath at the sudden warmness around her.

The flames obscured her vision, but she could still hear the monsters' terrified screams over the crackling of the fire as they fled the room. Their footsteps echoed across the apartment, and Lily could hear a door slam in the distance.

As quickly as the fire came, it went out. Lily was too tired to wonder what it was or where it came from.

All that mattered to her was that her baby was safe.


	12. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten**

"Bruce? Bruuuuuuuuce?"

Bruce was dimly aware of the fact that someone was calling his name. Someone who sounded worried, someone who's voice was familiar. Still, he couldn't bring himself to lift his head off of the pavement. He just lay there, face down, nose squished.

"Uh... Hulk? Huuulk? Here, Hulkie-Hulkie-Hulkie! Heeeere, boy!"

A low moan escaped his lips. "I'm not a dog," he groaned into the ground, though he was pretty sure that whoever was looking for him couldn't hear. Reluctantly, he started to push himself up, but pain shooting through his shoulder stopped him. He fell back down with a small cry.

"Bruce!" Carter. That's who it was. He heard her hurried footsteps and she drew nearer. God, was she OK? Did she get hurt? Did _he _hurt her?

Bruce felt a pair of hands on his bare back, and before he knew it, Carter was pulling him up into an upright position. She leaned him against her, bright eyes searching him. It was all he could do to not stare into them like a creeper.

"Jesus Christ," she muttered. Her eyes flicked from his left shoulder to meet his gaze. "Bruce, I'm so sorry."

He groaned again as he tried to shift in her arms. "'S not your fault," he told her weakly. "I'm sure I was doing something stupid."

"Yeah, saving my life." She frowned down at him. "Do you really not remember?"

Saving her life? Really? It couldn't be - not after what happened last time, when she'd insisted that he was the reason she was alive. He had put her in danger then; he was sure he'd somehow done it again.

He shook his head, wincing slightly. "No. Nothing. I'm telling you, that's not _me_. I have no control, no memories-"

She put a finger to his lips and gave him a look. "Look, I'm pretty sure you have more control than you think, but I'm not going to get into this with you right now." Carter ran her fingers lightly over his shoulder, and he shuddered. "Come on. Let's see what I can do about this."

Carter leaned in and snaked an arm around his waist, hauling him to his feet as slowly as she could, so as not to damage his shoulder any more. Bruce was suddenly aware of two things; one, of how close they were, and two, that he didn't have a shirt on and his pants were falling down. He gulped back a lump in the throat that hadn't been there a moment ago, and tried to slow down his increasing heart rate. _Just don't look at her, just don't look at her, just don't look at her_.

She sat him down on a large slab of stone, propped up against another rock behind it. Kneeling on the ground in front of him, she leaned in and examined his shoulder. He could feel her breath on his skin, making his heart race again. _Don't look at her, don't look at her. There's a squirrel over there! Look at the squirrel, Bruce, _look at the squirrel_!_

After what felt like forever, Carter pulled back and began rummaging through her jacket pockets. She pulled out a little sanitary wipe. "This may sting a bit," she told him as she tore open the package.

Bruce sucked in when the wipe touched his shoulder. Carter paused for a second, but quickly went back to cleaning out his wound. When she finished, she sat back on her heels, staring at him. Then, without warning, she ripped one of the sleeves off her jacket.

When she saw the look he was giving her, she grinned. "I don't carry around _bandages_. That'd be weird," she joked.

She continued to tear the sleeve into strips of cloth. Once Carter was satisfied with her work, she came back up to him, new bandages in hand. As she leaned in, Bruce felt his heart begin to spiral out of control. If he wasn't in so much pain, he would tell her that he didn't her help, that she could _get away from him._

But he didn't _want _her to leave; he wanted her stay with him. He wanted her to get _closer_.

He took a deep breath. _The squirrels, Bruce! Remember the squirrels! Look at the pretty squirrel-_

Oh, God. Her hair was in his face. It smelled like sweat, dirt, and coconut. An oddly intoxicating scent. So much coconut. Why? _Why_? Bruce _liked _coconut. A lot.

Carter finished tying the cloth and pulled back so that she was face to face with him. A grin crossed her face, but faded just as quickly. Her gaze zoned in on the spot just above his forehead, and her mouth opened slightly. _Not the mouth! The squirrels! Look at the squir - wow, her mouth is..._

"Bruce, your head." She reached out and ran her fingers along his forehead. When she pulled back, her hands were covered in familiar, sticky red stuff. "Oh my God. That looks bad. Here, lemme check for a concussion."

Carter's bright green eyes met his, and his heart began thundering again. He looked away, down at the ground. Any where but at her. He would loose it if he looked at -

"Bruce." Carter gently took his chin in her hand and titled his head up, so that he was forced to look at her. "This whole 'pupil dilation test' thing only works if..." Her voice trailed off, but her eyes never left his. Except once, when she glanced down at his lips.

And when she placed hers to his, his mind went completely blank. All he could feel was her. How soft her lips were, how good she tasted. With a little groan, Bruce reached up with his non-bandaged hand and cupped it around the back of her neck, pulling her in closer.

Carter tentatively reached out with her tongue, and Bruce responded so eagerly that he surprised even himself. Suddenly, his left shoulder didn't hurt too much anymore. He wrapped his arm around her waist, wanting _more_. His heart swelled up and - oh, no. His _heart_.

His heart was beating so frantically that he could hear it pounding in his ears. He had to be close to his limit. But he didn't want to stop now. Kissing Carter felt amazing, felt so _right_.

He pulled away roughly, slipping out from underneath her, his breathing dangerously labored. "I - I'm sorry," he mumbled, avoiding her gaze. "I have to go.

And with that, Bruce fled.

* * *

One minute Tony was blasting the crap out of a bunch of creepy aliens. The next, all those aliens were _gone_. _Poof! _And right after that he got a message from SHIELD, telling all Avengers to reassemble at headquarters.

Now, Tony approached an already gathered group of heroes, who were in the middle of a heated argument.

"This is crazy, Thor," Barton cried. "Dude, I know he's your brother, but he's fricken' insane! He was trying to _kill _us, like, half an hour ago!"

"I say we let him die," an angry Carter supplied helpfully. "He would do the same for us."

Thor stood his ground. "Nay. My brother... the man you saw today was not my brother?"

"Was the guy who knocked up my sister your brother? Or was that a _different_ Loki?" Carter took a challenging step forward, ready to go toe-to-toe with the god of thunder.

Tony took his job as a wingman very seriously. And a wingman doesn't let his fellow bro (sis, in this case) get into a fight he can't win - without offering back-up. "Problem, gentlemen?" he said, sauntering forward. He placed an arm around Carter's shoulders to show that she wasn't alone.

Carter glared at him with red-rimmed eyes. Had she been crying? _Of course she's been crying, stupid. We never found her sister! _Tony, who knew better than to mess with an emotional woman, removed his arm as quickly as he could.

"Thor here," Barton said, gesturing to the man in question, "wants for us to _treat _his brother - and then let him stay here to recover!"

"You do not understand," Thor rumbled. "My brother has been acting under the influence of the Cube. It is using him."

Tony resisted a strong urge to face-palm. "Thor," he said slowly, like he was talking to a five-year old. "You do realize that you're saying that a _box _is telling Loki to go around killing people, right?"

"Yes, Man of Iron." Thor smiled, totally missing the meaning of Tony's _your an idiot _tone. "The Cube feeds off of death an distraction. It uses those in close proximity to achieve it's desires."

"Thor," Tony repeated. "A _box_?"

Barton snorted. "I think it's _you _we need to treat.

"I second that threat." Carter raised her hand, as if they were taking a vote.

Thor, expression darkening, let out a low, scary growl. "You do not understand. This magic is like nothing you have ever seen before. It is a power that even the gods fear."

In his best Mr. Dursley impression, Tony said, "There's no such thing as magic."

"You mortals," Thor snarled, taking a step towards the billionaire, "call it science. But there is a science beyond your comprehension, and that is what we Asgardians know to be magic. There are some forces in this world that you will never understand, Son of Howard."

_Again with the Howard. Come one people! I'm _Tony_! _The use of his father's name caused him to bristle. "OK, fine. Maybe there are some things that I don't understand. Like women. But I do know that under the influence or not, Loki blew up some serious shit, tried to kill us, and threw me out a _window_. If people under the influence of drugs don't get any slack, then someone under the influence of a magical, glowing _box _won't be getting any either."

"I don't... I don't know guys," Steve said, speaking for the first time. When everyone turned their attention to him, his face grew red and he looked down to the ground as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. "I mean, I've been around that Cube before. It does... It does make you think bad things. But, you know, that's really not what we should be talking about. Loki's hurt. And enemy or not, he needs our help. We can't just turn him away."

"Sure we can!" Tony threw his arms up in the air, completely exasperated . "Hand him over to his aliens! They've got advanced technology; they can take care of him!"

"My brother's army has turned on him," Thor informed them solemnly. "They follow a new leader now - a being with red skin and no nose."

Steve stiffened, but Tony just gave Thor the look he reserved for intensely stupid people and Coulson. "Like, Voldemort with a super-bad spray tan?"

"What manner of creature is a 'Voldemort'?"

"Never mind." Tony waved the question away. "That's not the point. The point is, Loki's hurt, he needs our help, blah, blah, blah. Let's be diplomatic about this. All in favor of kicking his butt to the curb?"

Carter, Barton, an oddly silent Natasha, and himself raised their hands. Thor and Steve did not.

Tony did a quick head count. Six. Weren't there supposed to be seven? "Hey - where's Banner? I haven't seen him since he ran off with that wolf thing. You followed them, didn't you Carter?"

"Yeah," Carter replied, tonelessly, staring at the floor. She took in a deep, shaky breath. "I lost him," she muttered.

"'Course you did," Tony reasoned. "His legs are like twice the size of yours. Well, Hulk's are, anyways. There's no way you could have kept up with him. I'm sure he's fine though. Bet he's down in that lab of his now."

Realizing he'd gotten off topic, Tony resumed his never-used business like tone. "So. Four to two. Loki goes."

"_Thank you_," Barton said, shaking his head. Tony knew what that meant: _I can't believe it took us this long to decide that_.

"No."

Everyone turned their attention to Captain America once again.

"No," Steve repeated, this time making eye-contact with each of them. He could look really threatening when he wanted to. "I'm leader. And what I say goes. Loki stays."


	13. Chapter Eleven

**Chapter Twelve**

So, this is what it had come to - sulking on the couch, watching _Titanic, _of all things. God, that movie dragged on. And on and on and on. Plus, the scenes with the dead people in the ocean took forever, and all that water kept reminding Carter that she had to go to the bathroom.

Carter seriously didn't understand why all those teen girls were obsessed with this movie. I mean, come on! She _let go_. Rose just let Jack drown. There was more than enough room for the both of them on that raft. And she didn't even kiss him before she let him sink to the bottom of the ocean!

_Kiss him_. Carter hugged herself and sank further down into the couch cushions. _You _had _to think about kissing, didn't you?_

She could still taste Bruce's lips on hers, could still remember the feel of his skin. If she closed her eyes, she could still see the wide-open, innocent and longing look on his face just before she'd leaned in. His eyes were such a beautiful warm brown... And they'd been filled with panic and fear just before he'd runaway.

_See, _this _is why you don't kiss people unless they're drunk. You don't have to obsess over it, and they don't even remember it._

Not like she would want to forget, even if she could. Just thinking about Bruce sent a heart for a spin.

Frustrated that despite her best efforts, she couldn't stop thinking about it, Carter took a spoonful of Nutella and shoved it into her mouth. Mmhmm. Comfort food.

"What _are _you doing?"

Carter froze, halfway to her mouth with the second spoonful. She knew that voice. She could still remember that taunting, superior tone.

Loki was not someone who was easily forgotten.

Several options flashed through Carter's mind: One, kill him now. Two, beat the crap out him. Three, call someone else to kill him/beat the crap out of him. Four, cuss him out.

Instead, Carter went with option number five: continue eating, and then around a mouthful of amazingness say, "What does it _look _like I'm doing?"

"It appears that you are sitting on a couch, watching one of the many movies Lily enjoys when she gets hormonal, and eating something that closely resembles chocolate."

Carter waved her spoon around in the air like a magic wand. "Well," she said in her best _Thank you, Captain Obvious_ voice.

"Hmm... peculiar." Eyes still trained on the screen, Carter felt the god of evil sit down next to her. Grumbling, she scooted further towards the edge of the couch and brought the Nutella up to her chest, where she could better protect it. Why couldn't everyone just leave her alone?

Loki showed no intention of leaving anytime soon. In fact, he leaned back and crossed his legs casually, a sign that he was settled in for the rest of the movie. "While I do believe there is no point to this movie," he told her, as though she'd care, "I have to admit that I quite enjoy the scene where all the mortals are throwing themselves off of the ship. It amuses me."

"Weren't you dying, like, an hour ago?" Carter turned to glare at him.

Loki waved a slender hand in the air, ignoring her stare completely. "Asgardians heal faster than mortals."

That was something Carter could relate to. Earlier that day, the majority of her ribs had been cracked, snapped, broken, and a dozen other nasty verbs. Now, there was a different kind of pain in her chest.

"They should have shot you harder," she muttered.

"Ms. McIntyre," Loki reprimanded, pretending to look offended. "If you continue to speak to people in that manner, they will begin to believe that you want them dead.

"I do want you dead." With that, she stood up.

Loki looked almost... nervous. His eyes flickered to her form as she loomed over him. But he recovered quickly and gave her his signature cocky smirk. "And what are you going to do about that?"

"Absolutely nothing." For the first time in a while, Carter grinned crookedly. "I'm going to let Lily deal with you."

Leaving Loki to imagine what his probably very angry wife would do to him, Carter stalked away, unable to keep thoughts of a certain scientist from drifting about in her mind.

* * *

Coulson once again found himself in a less than desirable situation.

Really, as third in command, did he _have _to get all the odd, meaningless tasks? OK, so maybe going to pick up another agent who was in a perpetual comma was pretty important, but wasn't that the kind of thing SHIELD _interns_ did?

On the bright side (if there even was a bright side), the number two agent had to come with him. Not that he was pals with her, or anything. No one was "friendly" with Maria Hill; she scared people too much. It just made him feel a bit better about the importance of the job.

Without realizing it, Coulson started humming the theme song to _How I Met Your Mother_. Huh, was there a new episode coming on this week? Because if Barney and Robin didn't get back together soon, Coulson was going to have to go down to that studio and bust a few heads.

When he heard a growl from his left, he turned quickly to see Hill glaring at him (as usual - she'd be prettier if she wasn't always looking down on people). "Can it, Coulson."

Coulson held his hands up innocently. Reacting that badly to a little bit of music? And Stark thought _he _was uptight.

The two SHIELD agents continued down the empty hallway, guns drawn and ready for anything. Despite the fact that he should really be looking out for aliens, Coulson found himself admiring the place. This was a _really _nice apartment complex. If SHIELD payed better, Coulson would seriously consider moving in. Hey, maybe after defeating the alien invasion, he'd ask for a raise. Fury wouldn't be able to deny him that after he went all _Men in Black_ on some extra-terrestrials.

"It's just through here." Hill gestured to a plain white apartment door. Coulson, taking his cue, reared back and karate-kicked it in.

Well, if the hallway was nice, the apartment itself was White House level. The counters were granite, the floors clean and wooded, and the whole place had a modern, updated feel. _Really? Evil Overlords get the apartments were rodent infestation isn't a problem and the good guys have to worry about whether or not _ants _ate all the food in the fridge again?_

"Agent McIntyre?" Coulson called, gun still held out in front of him. He was starting to pick up on some not-so pristine things; the corner of the carpet was overturned, a vase had fallen to the floor and shatter, sending water and flower bits everywhere. There'd been some kind of commotion here.

Hill sensed it, too. She tensed up, crouched a little lower, and began what Coulson called the 'super secret spy stalk' around the apartment. He, on the other hand, just walked around like a regular, dignified person.

From out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that one of the may doors in the place was askew. "I think I've got something," he called to his 'partner'.

Gun out, he used his other hand to push the door further open. The gun dropped to the floor, just like his jaw.

Scorch marks covered the walls, embers still burned in places, and the room was still smoking. However, the evidence of the fire wasn't the strangest part.

In the middle of a ruined bed lay a seriously pregnant (Wasn't her stomach _flat _yesterday?) Lily McIntyre, sleeping peacefully as if a disaster hadn't just occurred. Her hand's were placed over her swollen belly, and her eyelids fluttered slightly.

"McIntyre?" Coulson darted forward, avoiding the still-burning spots as best he could. "Lily?"

She let out a small, content sound, and shifted a little. Coulson stepped it up a notch.

"McIntyre!" He grabbed her shoulder and began shaking her. "Wake up, McIntyre!"

Suddenly, bright blue eyes were staring back at him.

* * *

He'd just accepted that his heart wasn't going to slow down anytime soon. Because, no matter how hard he tried, Bruce couldn't stop thinking about her.

He'd tried meditating, but attempting to empty his mind had only brought on images of her, memories of the way she felt. When he'd started playing Words with Friends, every single word reminded him of her. His first set of letters had been C, A, R, T, E, R, and K. Seriously?

So, Bruce had decided that taking a shower would clear his head. Yeah, a _shower_. _That_ had been a great idea. Totally calmed him down.

Bruce took a long sip of tea, scowling at the computer screen without really seeing it. God. _Why? _Years and years of solitude had _not _prepared him for anything like this. Yes, he had seen Betty once during that time, but he'd had to leave just as quickly. He was _stuck _with Carter. SHIELD would probably shoot him if he tried to leave.

She was like a walking Hulk-inducer. Just being around her would sent his heart off on a wild race. The worst part? His hear _hurt _when she wasn't near. All he wanted right now was to be close to her.

But he couldn't be, not without hurting _her_. And he would never forgive himself if he did that again.

One good thing had come of this: Bruce was more determined than ever to find a cure. And he was pretty sure he was close.

"Seems a bit extreme, that."

Tea nearly came flying out of Bruce's nose, and he was pretty sure that his heart stopped for a second. Then, realizing who'd just entered the room, it started beating like a drum. In a heavy metal song. Played on double-time.

Carter's footsteps echoed throughout the lab as she strode toward him.

_Oh my God. Don't look at her. Don't think about kissing her. Don't think about her lips. Don't think about how much you _liked _her lips. Don't think about how you just _left _her there, without an explanation. Don't think about how much she probably hates her right now, and how she's probably here to get her revenge. Don't think about - oh, forget it. This isn't working._

She leaned in over his shoulder, and once again he was attacked by the amazing coconutty smell of her hair and the warmth her body was giving off. _Don't think about her body!_

"You aren't seriously thinking about doing this, are you?" She turned to face him, green eyes wide. _God. _Why did it have to be such a perfect color? Why couldn't her eyes be like, poop brown or something?

Wait, what was she talking about? Aren't seriously doing what? Avoiding her? Using her? Did she really think he was using her?

Bruce gulped. "I - I - What?"

"That." She tapped the computer screen. _Oh_. The cure. The gamma dosage.

Carter stepped back slightly (not far enough for his heart's health... but too far for it's _liking_), crossing her arms over her chest as she did. She gave him a little frown, and he couldn't help but noticed that there was chocolate on the corner of her lips.

_You freaking idiot! _He mentally hit himself. _Don't think about her lips! Don't even _look _at them! Because that will make you think about kissing her, and - oh, crap, not again! _His face grew red, and he tugged at the collar of his new shirt, the faint beeping noise from his watch barely registering.

"Bruce... I see that going a number of ways. And most of them don't end well for you." Carter sighed, looked down at the ground, then back at him with such blazing passion that his heart skipped a beat before racing on again. "Please don't do anything stupid. I don't want to lose you."

He sucked in suddenly, shocked. Did that mean what he _thought _it meant? "You can't - you can't _have _me."

Bruce tapped his heart-rate monitor, trying to tell her with that gesture all the things he couldn't say. He looked up at her, pleading for her to understand.

Carter sat down next to him. Lacing her fingers through his, she placed her head on his shoulder. "Then you can have me."


	14. Chapter Twelve

**Chapter Twelve**

Mortal doctors were completely inept.

Loki's back still hurt him. He could feel the footprint of power and magic left on him by whatever weapon he had been shot down with. The doctors had insisted that he let them give him a painkiller. As if someone puny mortal pill could do anything for him. Loki had snorted, waved them away (quite literally), and left the then unconscious healers.

The small encounter with the annoying one had been but a brief set-back. Now, Loki was sweeping through the halls of SHIELD's headquarters in search of the one "family" member he truly needed to speak to: Thor.

However, another relative arrived first.

"You - you selfish bastard, you!"

Loki felt his eyes widen. No, no it couldn't be -

A small hand wrapped around his shoulder and turned him around with more force than he was expecting. Loki looked down at his absolutely furious wife, mouth hanging open as he blinked rapidly.. "I thought you were asleep," he told her, simply because he could think of nothing better to say.

"Well, I woke up from the coma you _put me in_! How _could_ you? How could you do something like that to me?" Lily's face was twisted with anger, but there were tears in her eyes.

"I did it to protect you," he snarled, matching her ton. "You could not possibly understand. No of the mortals can. Your entire race is on the brink of destruction, and you refuse to admit it! I knew that you would not approve of my methods, and that you would try to intervene. By doing so, you would hurt yourself."

Lily frowned, tears falling down her face. "I don't understand because you won't explain it to me - unless I'm in a freaking coma and you think I can't hear you."

Loki felt his face grow a bit more heated than usual. She had heard his council?

"And I do understand why you did it." She put both hands on her hips. "Believe me, I understand. I was that pale and sickly kid who had no mother and a dad everyone thought was crazy. People made fun of me my whole life. But world domination isn't the answer!" Her voice rose as she continued her rant. "You can't change the world that quickly, even if you rule it! You have to do it one act of random kindness at a time. _You _have to be the one to make the change - on a personal level! If you become king and just tell everyone to be nice or you'll kill them, nothing will _really _change!"

He stepped towards her, perfectly aware that with his height and her small stature, he loomed almost menacingly over her. "You are blinded by your belief that there is good in everyone."

"There _is _good in everyone! Sometimes it's not apparent, and you have to work to find it!"

Loki scoffed at that. Just look at his fathers: First there was Laufey, who had abandoned him and left him to die. And even worse was Odin, who had raised him under the pretense that he was loved and one day might become king. "Lies."

"Ugh!" Lily, on the verge of tears once again, threw her hands up in the air, signaling that she had given up. She pushed past Loki and ran off through the tunnels.

Hissing, Loki's hand immediately flew to where she had made contact with him.

His skin burned where Lily had touched him.

* * *

"What ails you, Son of Rogers?"

Steve turned around to see Thor coming into the room. The god of thunder's eyes flickered to the TV, where Steve was currently watching the _Atlanta _Braves play the _San Francisco _Giants. Even _baseball _had changed - the Braves were a Boston team, and the Giants were from New York. At least, that's what Steve had _thought_. Plus, they'd gone through at least five pitchers this game; you were only supposed to use two, max.

And who was this "Kung Fu Panda" everyone kept talking about? "The Freak"? "Georgie"? "Huddy"? The "_Dancing Bobcat_"? Steve was so confused.

But that wasn't really what was bothering him. Steve had turned on baseball to get his mind off of the Red Skull. How had that man survived? Steve had seen him... well, he didn't know _what _happened, but it hadn't looked good.

"It's just... I thought the Red Skull was dead," Steve admitted.

"You know of him?" Thor asked, crossing the room in two large strides and sitting down next to him.

Steve nodded. "I fought him, back in the war..." his voice trailed off and he found himself lost in memories.

"Aye," Thor agreed solemnly, "that would explain why he mentioned you."

"He what?" Steve choked on air as he gaped at the other god. "What? What did he say?"

Thor, staring in confusion at the screen, answer with an absent minded, "Only that if you were to surrender yourself to him, he would spare Earth. If not, he would attack within four hours. I say, what manner of sport is this? It's not very fast-paced."

...

"Steve Rogers? Are you alright? What is that strangled noise escaping your throat?"

* * *

"Please don't," Bruce whispered in her ear. Even though his words pushed her away, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Carter leaned further into him, happy to stay there forever.

"Please," he repeated, desperation seeping into his voice. "Please don't make promises you can't keep. You don't know what you're saying... What that entails... You'd be giving up more than you can imagine."

She didn't want to, but Carter felt herself pulling away so that she could look him in the eyes. "Promises I can't keep?" A scowl formed. "What do you mean by that?"

"You could never... have a life with me," he murmured, trying to avoid her gaze. "Never have a family."

"I can't remember the last time I had any of those things," Carter told him. "I've been on the run since I was eight. I never went to school, never had any friends, never even _saw _my family. Last week was the first time I saw Lily in seventeen years! I have no _idea _where my dad is - or how he's doing or _anything_. I wouldn't be giving anything up. I'd be _gaining _something: _you_."

Bruce looked away, a pained expression on his face. He ran one hand through his hair, and put his head in the other.

That was when Carter realized something. "This is about your last girlfriend."

"I - I..." With wide eyes, he turned to face her.

Carter reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, sinking back down to be nearer to him. "What happened?" she asked quietly.

"I don't... I can't... I'm not... sure," he stuttered, voice still faint. "I had to run. When it happened, I left. And then five years later, I came back. Betty was with someone else, but when she saw me, she came back to me. And then, I had to leave again. But I thought... well, I thought she'd wait. A year ago, I went back to her but she'd... moved on. She was married. And had a kid. She told me that she wanted to wait but what she wanted more than anything else was a family. She wanted stability. Wanted to know that her _husband_, and not some monster, would always be waiting for her when she got home." He'd grown almost bitter.

"I couldn't give her any of that."

Silence covered them again. With a sigh, Carter put her head back on his shoulder. Then, winding her arms around him and pressing her face into his shirt, she let out a little laugh. "You know what? I think stability is boring. I don't think you're a monster. And I know that you'd always be waiting."

Bruce let out a shudder that racked his whole body. He pressed his lips to her forehead and let out a long breath.

Of course, _Coulson _just had to ruin the moment. Carter was just going to have to kill the SHIELD agent the next time she saw him.

_"All Avengers, please assemble in the meeting room. All Avengers, please assemble."_

"We should go," Bruce muttered.

Carter stood up, looked down at him, and smiled. She held her hand out. He placed his warm one in his.

Together, they headed up to the meeting.


	15. Chapter Thirteen

**Chapter Thirteen**

Tony was the last one in the conference room - just how he planned it. He wasn't really late. Just _fashionably _late. Even if he was at a SHIELD compound with a bunch of people who rarely left their various realms/labs/icebergs to see the light of day, he was Tony Stark, and he had an image to uphold.

Plus he hadn't finished polishing his suit when Coulson had called the meeting.

"Thank you joining us today, Mr. Stark," Fury growled, leaning across the table to give Tony the eye.

Iron Man opened his mouth to reply, but his attention quickly changed to a more... _attractive _thing. Not that Fury, with his eye patch and disturbing scars wasn't easy on the eyes, but the little red-head sitting next to him was _actually _pretty.

"Well, hello." Tony wriggled his eyebrows at her, smiling his most charming smile. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting you before."

The girl gave him a sickly sweet smile. "Actually, you have. Several times now."

"Wha...?" Saying that Tony was confused was an understatement. He was _pretty_ _sure _that he probably hadn't seen her around before. Plus, most girls would have responded to his flirting in a much less sarcastic manner. Because he was freaking Tony Stark.

"Quit messing with her," Carter said from the other side of the table. "I think there's a rule about not dating your wingman's sister."

"There's also a law about not dating married women." Lily McIntyre directed that comment more to Carter than him, narrowing her eyes slightly as she did.

Carter shrugged. "I refuse to believe that you really got married without inviting me." She crossed her arms over her chest, then leaned back further in her chair, not breaking eye contact.

Fury cleared his throat and eyed them all again. "Can we get started?"

Tony slipped into the chair between Thor and a depressed looking Steve Rogers, who was staring blankly at the metal table in front of them. Huh. The poor guy had probably just found out that no one liked baseball anymore.

"Now, we have _recently_ been informed by Mr. Odinson here," Fury said through his teeth, glaring pointedly at Thor, "that our new foe is none other than the Red Skull. For those of you who don't know, the Red Skull was the mastermind behind the Hydra movement in the Second World War. He was believed to have been killed by Captain Rogers, but apparently, that was not the case.

"He will attack in less than one hour."

At that, the room filled without outbursts - mainly directed at Thor. Cries of "What the hell, man!" and "You didn't think that was _important _to mention?" were thrown around. Thor crossed his arms regally.

"I did '_mention_' it. To the Son of Rogers."

Everyone turned on Steve, but before they could begin to bombarde him, Coulson of all people stopped the madness.

"We need to develop a battle strategy," the SHIELD agent reminded them. "I'd be all happy to debrief you all-"

Tony just snorted. "No, I think we got it. Tell me if I'm missing anything here: This new bad guy is almost ninety years old, deformed, pure evil, hates the Cap, and is going to flatten New York in, oh, I don't know, about thirty, forty minutes. The only people who can stop him is a team of a handsome robot, a solider who's completely out of his league, an idiotic Norse god, a Hulk, a frisbee thrower, and a seriously pregnant woman that doesn't even have superpowers."

"You forgot the handsomer archer and hot contortionist," Barton supplied helpfully.

"And an OK looking archer and a hot contortionist," Tony amended.

Much to everyone's surprise, it was Steve who bolted up from his chair, fixing Tony with a hard stare. "Is everything a joke to you?" he hissed, narrowing his eyes.

Tony let out a laugh that was on the brink of hysterics. "Funny things are!" he giggled. Then, switching gears, he let his face fall and met Steve's challenging gaze. "And I think the idea of this team taking on a crazy Nazi and is alien army and winning is _very _funny."

"We aren't a team," Banner scoffed, speaking for the first time. "We're a _time bomb_. Look at us, we can't even be in the same room without getting at each other's throats. There's no way we'll be able to fight together. And there's no way we can win if we fight separately."

The group lapsed into a silence that was unwelcomely broken.

"Unless, of course," a smooth voice said, "you happened to know someone who understood the way that both the Cube and the alien army worked." Loki stepped slowly into the room, a small smirk forming on his face. "If you knew such a person, I would say that the odds of you winning had tipped in your favor."

"Shame we don't know anyone like that," Carter all but growled. She was perched on the edge of her seat, locked in on Loki. Banner placed on hand on her shoulder, and although she remained tense, she glanced back at him with a much softer look in her eyes.

Thor looked at his brother uncertainly. "Brother, are you saying-"

"Nothing!" Tony interrupted, waving his arms. "He's not saying anything, Thor! Don't listen to him."

"I am offering you information, Stark. You would be foolish to turn it down." Loki smiled knowingly.

As a businessman, Tony knew that there was an ulterior motive. "And why would you help us?"

"I have been betrayed by the Jovian's. I simply wish to get my revenge."

Lily let out a little noise. "Revenge? Really, Loki? Of all the things you _want_-" there was more than a hint of hurt in her voice at that "-you pick _revenge_? Of all the reasons-"

"Do not question my motives!" the lying god snapped back so suddenly that Tony realized there was another reason.

The billionaire stood from his chair and began to circle around Loki like a bird of prey. Although the god's face remained blank, his shoulder's tightened just enough. "Oh, but I think we have to," Tony said matter-of-factly. "I think there's another reason, and until you tell us, we'll just have to put your ass back in jail."

"Because that worked so well for you the last time," Loki snorted.

"I won't be breaking you out this time," Lily told him, eyes blazing. She placed both hands protectively over her super fat stomach as she glared up at her husband. Ugh, _husband_. Tony still couldn't imagine anyone marrying that creeper.

There was something in Loki's eyes when he looked back to her. Something soft and warm... and, in Tony's opinion, disturbingly out of place. It looked _loving_.

"This is for you," Loki breathed, still gazing at her intently.

Lily's smiled slightly, and joyful tears filled her eyes. "Really?"

The god pursed his lips before nodding. And it was the most honest thing Tony had ever seen anyone do. And it was sickeningly romantic. The billionaire sensed a sappy make-up scene coming on.

"Well, OK. He loves you. He's saving the world for you. That's great," Tony said quickly. "You guys can, um, make-out and do whatever it is pregnant couples do later. Let's keep it professional in here."

"The aliens?" Carter prompted just as fast, probably trying to avoid having to watch her sister be all lovey-dovey. "You mentioned the Cube and the aliens?"

"Ah, yes," replied Loki, turning to face them all. "These aliens you are all referring to are known as Jovians. They hail from a different, smaller realm near to Midgard. Their technology closer resembles Asgardian, but their culture is similar to yours. As is their anatomy.

"However, there are several, key differences between Jovians and mortals."

Carter raised an eyebrow. "Like the freaky elephant noses?"

"Yes," Loki said slowly. "The '_freaky elephant noses_' are different. As is the fact that they are notably stronger and faster than even your Captain America. However, they have an exoskeleton. An exoskeleton that is easily cracked."

"Woah." Tony held up a finger. "Are you saying what I _think _you're saying? That one little crack and their insides come rushing out through the hole?"

Someone made a disgusted noise at that beautiful mental image, but Loki ignored them and nodded. "Yes."

"Then we should use long-range combat," Steve concluded. "Guns. Arrows. That sort of thing. If we get too close, there's a good chance they could hurt us."

"An excellent observation," Loki confirmed. "That would have been my suggestion as well. However, the Jovians are worthless in comparison to the Cube."

The Cube holds unlimited power. It can change the course of reality and time itself. That is our main goal. I believe that this Red Skull knows only of a portion of the Cube's potential. We must retrieve it before he _does _realize what it can do."

Tony winced mentally at the idea of a psycho Nazi with the power to control, well, _everything_. _OK, then,_ he decided. _This could be bad._

"So," he said, clapping his hands. "Battle plans, anyone?"

No one moved until Fury stood. "We divide and conquer. Spilt up into pairs." He pulled out a little black remote. With a flourish that Tony was sure he had added for dramatic effect, he pressed a button, pulling up a 3D hologram of the city.

"The Jovians' headquarters is located _here_," Fury said, pointing to a spot between the UN building and Stark Towers. "We are _here_. Four teams of two will head down these roads. We reassemble in front of their ship, then take the Skull out together."

"Well, that _sounds _easy enough," Carter noted.

Banner seemed to disagree. He shook his head violently. "No. I'm not partnering up with anyone. I'm... I'm too unpredictable."

Tony couldn't argue with that. Being on a team with Banner was like throwing a grenade into the middle of the fight and hoping that everything turned out alright. The odds were never in your favor.

"You don't have an option," Fury informed him. "I will partner you up. Cap, you're with Thor. Hawkeye and Black Widow. Banner, I want you with McIntyre. Stark and Loki."

"_What_?" Both Tony and Banner blurted out. The two geniuses exchanged quick glances before turning back to the director.

"I'm not going to be partners with the guy who threw me out a goddamn window!"

"I won't. I'll hurt her. I can-"

"_There will be no changes to the teams_," Fury growled. "Avengers - disassemble."

* * *

Lily straightened Loki's crooked breastplate, aware of how close they were once again (despite the large bump in the way), aware that his eyes were trained on her. "There. Fixed."

As she pulled away, she found her hands trapped in his long, nimble ones. Lily looked up at him, nearly melting under his emerald gaze.

"I am truly sorry for all that I have done."

Lily felt tears form in her eyes again. "You lied to me," was all she could say. _I loved you and you lied to me. What else did you lie to me about? Have you ever been honest with me?_

"I know," he said, eyes downcast now. "I am unworthy of you. I have abused your love for me. I do not deserve your forgiveness, though I ask for it."

The look on Loki's face was so open and raw that she was positive it was real. But then again, was it? How could she tell? He had lied to her - and she would never forget that. Even when she _forgave _him, she would never fully trust him again.

* * *

"Oh!" Carter cried, grinning wildly. "I wanna gun! Here, Cap, give me that really big one over there."

Although the look on her face made Steve question whether or not giving her a machine gun was a good idea, he'd been given orders from Colonel Fury to arm all the Avengers who asked for weapons. He picked the large gun up and handed it over to her. Extreme delight filled her face, and in turn, panic filled Steve. She looked _way _to happy.

"Hey, Bruce!" she called over her shoulder, waving the gun in the air like it was a little stick instead of a fully loaded weapon. "You want one?"

Bruce, who was sitting on a crate full of helmets, looked up at her blankly and shook his head. "No thanks." His voice was empty.

Carter looked back to Steve and rolled her eyes, as if saying _Sorry about him_. Then, with an audible sigh, she strode off towards him, leaving Steve alone with a box full of guns. The soldier shifted his weight from foot to foot, adjusting his grip on the old-fashioned repeater he had chosen.

"How now, Captain?" a familiar, thundering voice said, full of excitement. Thor practically bounded up to Steve, a grin almost as big as Carter's plastered on his face. "Are you prepared to do battle?"

"Erm, yeah, I guess," Steve muttered. He knew he was ready to defeat the Skull, once and for all. Beyond that? He wasn't sure - it seemed like every time he took responsibility for a group of people, he came back at least one short. "Yeah," he repeated, trying to sound more confident that the last time.

Thor let out a hearty chuckle and smacked Steve on the back. "Aye, Son of Rogers. Today we will _fight_! And today, we shall make our ancestors proud!"

Well, when Thor put it like that...

* * *

"You _sure _you don't want a gun?" Carter asked, sliding in next to Bruce. "You'd have a ton of fun with one."

The glare he shot her told her everything she needed to know.

"Take a gun," she insisted. "That way you won't have to Hulk up."

Bruce's eyes widened slightly, moving from her face to the gun she was holding. When he looked back a final time, there was a light that hadn't been there a moment ago. "You mean...?"

"Fury said I was partnered with _you_, not the Hulk. You can stay human if you want to."

"I don't know..." Bruce ran a hand through his thick black hair. "It's a long shot but, yeah," he finished a bit lamely. "Give me a gun."


	16. Chapter Fourteen

**Chapter Fourteen**

While Midgardian technology was weak in comparison to Asgard's, Thor had to admit that the amount of damage that Steve Rogers was causing was quite formidable. The captain blasted through the alien army's ranks with such fierceness that the god almost didn't recognize the quite man from earlier.

Of course, Thor's hammer was bigger, and therefore more effective.

Mjolnir raised above his head, Thor brought the hammer down, smashing the black top with such force that the entire street cracked and the frontline of the army fell. Then, with his signature battle cry, he lifted the hammer once more and flung it forward. The Asgardian weapon flew through a large part of the army before returning back to Thor's hand.

Captain America's shield whipped past Thor's head and rebounded off of a lamppost before entering the midst of the battle. After it made contact with several of the Jovians, it came back to Rogers' open hand, much in the same way Mjolnir returned to Thor.

"An excellent shot, Son of Rogers!" Thor bellowed, sending his partner a huge grin. "You are a most worthy warrior."

From beneath his mask, Rogers shot Thor the same look Loki gave him when he thought Thor had just said something out of place. "Um, thanks, Thor," Rogers muttered. He raised his pistol once again, and took aim.

At nothing. One minute an entire army had been facing them, but now, they had simply disappeared.

"Perhaps the forces have been called elsewhere?" Thor suggested, turning to his startled friend.

Rogers just stared out at the place where the army had been mere seconds ago. Blinky rapidly, he said, "I guess... But where did they go?"

For once, the god of thunder had no response.

* * *

Bruce frantically pulled the trigger on his gun, trying to get _some _sort of response. Of course, nothing happened.

"How does this thing work?" he shouted above the screams of the firing.

Carter, on hand planted firmly on the trigger of her machine gun, the other forming a shield out in front of her, just gave him a look. "Pull the trigger! The little round, half-circle thing!"

"I know what a trigger is!" He glanced back at the advancing alien army that seemed to be _growing _in size. How were there so many? His heart began pounding even harder as the gun failed to produce a bullet. "It's not working?"

"Is it loaded?"

"Yes! I spent nearly twenty minutes checking and double-checking it!" Giving up on the trigger, Bruce began hitting the bottom of the gun with the palm of his hand. "I think it's jammed!"

There was a sound like a lawn-mower crunching gravel, and Bruce looked up to see that Carter's gun had run out of ammunition. She growled and hurled it into the army with impressive force, then sent the shield she'd formed in after it. With an extremely skeptical look, she turned to face him. "How the _hell _did you _jam _a _gun_? That's not even freakin' possible!" Well, _apparently_, it was.

Bruce would never forget what happened next.

It seemed to happen in slow-motion. Or super fast. He couldn't even _tell_. One minute, Carter was glaring at him, then next, she was in the air, knocked off her feet by a blast to the chest. Before he even knew it, Bruce was by her side, heart pounding.

She looked up at him, blinking those big green eyes rapidly. With a groan, she glanced down at her shoulder, and Bruce followed her gaze. He sucked in a deep breath.

Her shoulder was torn open and bloody, the edges of the wound smoking from the blast. She was hurt. They had _hurt her_.

Anger unlike anything else he had ever experienced boiled up inside of him. _They had hurt Carter. His Carter. They'd hurt her. _And with the rising anger, the change came up, too. His whole body began to shake, and his throat constricted.

"Bruce?" Carter's voice sounded small. She struggled to put her weight on her good shoulder.

Panting now, heart thundering, he shook his head and started to back up. "No. No, I-"

She reached up and gave him a quick kiss on the lips, sending his heart off once again. With a strangled noise, he threw himself backwards in a last attempt to distance himself from her.

Her face was the last thing he registered before the Hulk took control.

* * *

"New York Nazis!" Tony screamed, holding out his pulsor and blasting away at the Nazi-Alien things. "I hate New York Nazis!"

Tony's blue blast was met with a purple one. Iron Man glanced to his right to see Loki in all his big horned glory (compensating, much?), waving around his big stick in his best Mad-Eye Moody impression. The god threw Tony a sideways glance. "What on Midgard are you going on about, Stark?"

"The _aliens _- " Tony trailed off, staring dumbstruck at the pavement below them. He spun mid-air to look at Loki (also mid-air - the magic stick seemed to work a lot like Thor's hammer when it came to flying), who seemed equally confused. Where the heck had all the aliens gone? "Um... you _don't _see that either, do you?"

The god shook his head. "It appears as though they had more important things to attend to," Loki replied, eyebrows drawing closer together in confusion.

As if on cue, a city-shaking below sounded off to the east.

"More important things like the Hulk." Tony turned towards where Hulk and Carter must have been, but then looked back to Loki. "They can handle themselves, don't you think?"

"Yes. I suggest we press on."

Tony pursed his lips together. Hulk was a big, _big _boy, right? And someone had given Carter a machine gun. They were probably fine.

* * *

Clint's arrow went flying through the air, completely missing it's target... because his target had just disappeared. He wouldn't have missed otherwise.

Next to him, Natasha straightened and lowered her gun, frowning. "There _was _an army there a minute ago, correct?"

"Um," Clint muttered, spinning around in circles, probably looking really stupid, as he looked for them. Alien invisibility mode? Sneak attack? "I _thought _so."

And then he did what he always did when he couldn't figure something out, whether it be that the vending machine on the fourth floor wasn't working or that an entire army had disappeared in mere seconds. He grabbed his walkie-talkie and called Coulson.

"Hey, we got a bit of a situation here."

There was an audible sigh on the other end. _"Can't find the giant army?" _

The superior SHIELD agent's voice was dripping with sarcasm, which made it much more enjoyable for Clint when he replied, "Bingo."

_"What? Barton, this is no time for-"_

"Listen, Phil," Natasha said, coming forward and leaning down to the talkie. "The army was here, but it's _gone _now."

_"_Gone_? How can it just be _gone_?" _Coulson cried, voice an octave higher than usual.

Clint ran a hand through his short hair. "We don't _know_. That's why we called."

There was a pause on the other end that seemed to last forever. _"I'll check into it."_

* * *

The Red Skull, facing away from all of his new allies, stood at attention, an old habit he had yet to break. Arm's positioned behind his straight back, he let out a deep breath, waiting for the sentry who had just come up behind him to speak.

"We have spotted the beast, sir," he informed him.

A smile crept along the Skull's face. Good. That beast, the Hulk as everyone called him, was of great importance to him. Of great interest. Now there was a specimen, a great specimen. One that the Skull was eager to examine. "And?" he prompted.

"And we have adjusted our soldiers accordingly, sir," the sentry replied. "All forces have been repositioned."

"And? Vhat else is zere?" The Skull recognized the tone that this solider was using; it meant that there was something else, some information that was being retained. "Speak."

There was the rustling of fabric as the Jovian shifted his weight. "Sir, the rest of the Avengers have assembled outside."

"Zat?" the Skull laughed mercilessly, whirling around as he did. "You are vorried about zat? Zey are of no importance. Zey vill be easily subdued. Unless, of course, you ave not carried out my previous order?"

"We have, sir. The collection party is scheduled to return within the next five minutes."

"Zen we ave nothing to vorry about. Zat will take care of the Avengers - except for Captain America. And he is mine. Do not forget zat, solider."

The sentry shook his head. "No, sir." With that, he turned on his heel and left, leaving the Skull alone with his thoughts once more.

He was so close to victory. After years of banishment, of plotting, of scheming, today he would have his revenge on Captain America. Today, he would watch as the world burned. Today, he would finally be recognized for what he truly was - a god among men.

Today, they would all see that Johann Schmidt wasn't all that crazy.


	17. Chapter Fifteen

**Chapter Fifteen**

This was why Loki preferred to work alone - no one was late when it was just you waiting to invade another army's headquarters. The god crossed his arms, tapping long fingers against them as he glanced around, eyebrow raised. In New York, all the streets were straight; it wasn't as if they'd gotten _lost_.

"Would could possibly be keeping them?" he growled through his teeth.

Stark looked up from his little Midgardian communication device and sighed. Without his metal mask, he was much less formidable. "Re_lax_, Mom. They're big heroes, they can take care of themselves."

"I was not implying that I am worried about any of them. My patience is simply growing thin."

"Well," Stark muttered, gaining an offended air. "They probably just stopped for donuts. I mean, if you'd let me, I would have done that. I still think we should head back and raid that Starbucks. Coffee would be nice right about now..."

Loki would not admit it, but he had to agree. Although the mortal drink did not taste as good as many of the beverages on Asgard, the feeling it gave Loki sent his magical abilities off the charts. Instead saying anything to Stark, the god let out a snort.

Almost as soon as silence gained control again, it was broken by none other than Thor.

"Brother!" he cried, practically galloping towards Loki. "You are unharmed!" He beamed at his little brother.

Loki felt a frown coming on. Thor was pleased that Loki was in one piece? After all he had done, all he had said, all he had destroyed? The god of lies searched for any hint of deception, but felt only truth. Uncomfortable for reasons he couldn't explain, he shifted his weight. "Yes," he said tightly. "As are you."

Rogers came up behind them, panting slightly. He looked wide-eyed from Loki to Stark. "Did you all see that? The army we were facing... they just..." He trailed off, at a complete loss for words.

"Poof?" Stark suggested, an eyebrow cocked. "Yeah, they went all 'ninja' on us, too."

Looking confused, Roger's opened his mouth once again, but was cut off by yet another Avenger.

"These guys have effing _stealth mode_!" the archer, whom Loki believed was called Hawkeye, cried as he and the red-haired woman approached. "How come we don't get to randomly turn invisible like that? Stark?"

Stark held his hands up in defense. "Hey, don't look at me. That was some sort of Harry Potter Disapperation crap right there."

"Indeed," Loki agreed, recognizing the name of the mortal magic-user. Lily had dragged him to see the final film revolving around the boy, and while it was pointless and completely unrealistic, it was relatively entertaining. "I believe that that was a result of the Cube being, how do you say, _used in action_?"

"That's how we say," the archer replied, narrowing his eyes. "What do you mean about the Cube? They figured it out? Didn't you say that'd be _bad_?"

Loki shook his head. "I do not think that they have figured out it's true power. However, they may have found a way to harness a small portion of it. Still that small portion was enough to transfer their forces to another sector."

The Avengers took that rather shocking bit of news in silence. Then Stark, who always seemed to recovered the fastest, stood and clapped his metal-gloved hands together, sending an odd metallic noise ringing through the air. "Alright then. Shall we?"

"What about Ms. McIntyre and Dr. Banner?" Rogers asked.

"They've been..." Loki threw Stark a sideways glance, trying to find the best way to phrase it. "Otherwise occupied. Let's just say that the army will not be a problem for _us_, hmm?"

Rogers didn't look too happy about it, but he nodded stiffly like the solider he was. The others mumbled their agreement.

Flipping his mask down, Stark let out an almost Loki-like chuckle. "Let's blow this bitch."

* * *

One minute, they'd been playing a not-so relaxing game of cards. The next, someone had knocked Coulson unconscious and was wrapping duct-tape around her mouth. Now, she was trapped inside an alien prison, probably getting ready to face her doom.

"Lily, please just -"

"Relax?" Lily asked, verging on hysterics now as she struggled against her bonds. She shot Coulson her best _I'm hormonal and losing it and think you're insane _look. "How the hell am I supposed to relax while _I'm tied up and being held captive by aliens_?"

Coulson, who was also incapacitated, let out a long sigh, and Lily could tell her boss was starting to lose is cool (_Finally_. She was starting to think he wasn't even human.). "We need to keep calm. Our job is to keep - "

"_I am not going to keep calm, Coulson_," she hissed. "We have just been kidnapped by aliens. We are probably going to die. I am pregnant. I would _like _to become a mother. Do you know what that's like, Coulson? To know that if you die, you kill your child, too?" Her voice was rising now. "I am freaking out right now, and you are not going to be able to stop me! I am an American citizen, and I can completely go insane if I want to! Do you hear me?"

Coulson just stared at her, eyes wide. "You're rope is on fire."

Lily looked, down at her rope, and sure enough, it was aflame. "Oh my freaking God! What the fu - " She didn't finish her curse - she was too distracted by the drastic change in flame size. And by the fact that not only was the rope on fire, but most of her body was now, too.

With a muffled little scream, Lily shot to her feet, the ashes of the rope falling to the ground. "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! Coulson! Put it out, put it out!"

"I can't," he said, still using the same monotone he always had. "I'm tied up right now."

"That's not helpful! I'm _burning_!"

Coulson narrowed his eyes slightly. He was just staring at her - while she was on fire. _What the hell, man?_ _I'm on freaking fire and all you can do is stare at me while I burn to death. The hell? _"Does it hurt?"

"Does _what _hurt?"

"The fire."

Instinctively, Lily looked down at her _flaming _body. Um... No. It _didn't _hurt. What the -

As her heart-rate slowed, and she was shocked into an almost calm state, the fire disappeared. Wide-eyed, she looked to Coulson, who was giving her that almost creepy grin of his.

* * *

Steve had abandoned the pistol after shooting the first couple of guards they had come upon. He just didn't feel right about shooting people, whether they were aliens or others - killing without giving someone a fair chance to fight back was wrong.

Now, his shield held out in front of him, he crept along the hallways, leading the other Avengers into battle. He wished they would take this a bit more seriously.

Like, Tony, for example. He could be more focused. While Steve was doing his best to stay silent and in a ready position, Tony strolled along. With each step he took, metal echoed along the hallway, giving away their position. More than once, Barton, Natasha, and himself sent Iron Man a glare. Tony didn't seem to notice.

"Take a left turn up here," Loki commanded from his position at the back of the group. They were relying on him to lead them to the Cube, as he was the only one who could sense magic. They were at his mercy. If he was tricking them...

"Are you sure?" Steve asked, frowning slightly. He could hear movement coming from the other tunnel, but the one Loki had indicated was correct was deadly silent. Wouldn't there be someone or something guarding the Cube?

Loki did not like being challenged. He drew himself up to his full height (which made him just a smidge taller than Steve), and narrowed his eyes at the super-solider. "Of course I am sure," he snapped. "Unless, of course, your magic-sensitive senses have told you otherwise."

Not appreciating the sarcasm, Steve gave him a curt nod.

The hallways Loki had chosen was narrower than the last one had been. It has sharp twists and turns that blocked your view, and that set Steve on edge. He slowed he pace and kept his fist cocked right behind his shield, so that if anything did come along, he would be able to punch it in the face very quickly.

"Oh my _God_," Tony groaned. "My _grandma _uses her walker faster than this. And she's been dead for, like, thirty years. Can we pick up the pace? The world isn't gonna save itself, you know."

Steve, losing his patience, whirled to glare at Tony. God, he looked so much like Howard. "Would _you _like to lead?"

The billionaire opened his mouth, but was cut off by a passing god. Thor moved to the front of the group, then turned back to glare at them all. "We will get no where arguing like this," he said rather regally. "I shall lead." He lifted his chin, as if daring any of them to argue. When no one spoke, they began to move once again.

They didn't get very far before they came to a large, intricate, and clearly locked door. Loki stepped forward swiftly. With his staff, he tapped the door several times, the moved back to examine it further. "The Cube is through here," he informed them. Then, a frown formed. "However, it appears that the Skull took into account my own magical abilities. I cannot find a way to open the door."

"Let me try," Tony said. As he went up to the door, his face-mask retreated so that he could get a better view. "Well, it's locked. There's a control panel just here. I might be able to hack into it."

Several minutes and a lot of words that made Steve go red in the face later, they were still locked out. "Damn technology," Tony muttered. "I need to short the circuits, but I don't have anything... The arc reactor would just blow it up... Huh, maybe that would work..."

"Here, Son of Howard." Thor strode forward, hammer raised. "I believe that Mjolnir may hold the power to 'short your circuit'. The Son of Coul warned me against using it near the magical toasting machine, as that would be the result. Perhaps if I were to summon lightning - "

An arrow whizzed by and embedded itself into the control panel. It sparked for a minutes before going out completely, and the doors slid open.

Clint just shrugged when everyone looked at him. He gestured with his bow towards the now open door. "World saving?" he reminded them.

As the Avengers began moving forward once again, Steve felt a nervous gnawing in the pit of his stomach. He was going to face Schmidt again. Who was to say that he would win? He'd failed last time, hadn't he? Why would he be able to do it this time?

_Because you're not alone_, he reminded himself. _You're not alone._

And that was a good thing, too. Not a minute after they had all filed into the room, the door slammed shut behind them. A slow clapping noise filled the air.

Steve whirled around, eyes immediately flying to the balcony above him. From the shadows stepped a positively grotesque figure. Red skinned, deformed, and deranged, the Red Skull continued his dramatic clapping as he looked down at all of them. Then, he let out a crazy laugh.

"Velcome, Avengers," the Red Skull said with a grin. "I see zat you ave found my lair. Impressive. Very impressive. Unfortunately, it vill not be enough. Just ask your friend Steve Rogers. Or your little god. Zey vill tell you. Zey will tell you zat I cannot be stopped."

"Ve vill be ze vones hoo decided on _zat_!" Tony cried in a much thicker fake accent, stepping forward. His mask clicked back into place, making him look all the more menacing. "And, quite frankly, we don't agree with that statement."

Loki tensed beside Steve. "I can no longer feel the Cube's presence," he muttered out of the corner of his mouth. "It is here, but I cannot pinpoint it's location. I shall search for it. Distract the Skull while I do; once I locate the Cube, I shall use it to banish him from this realm."

"That didn't work very well the last time," Natasha noted in the same undertone.

"Last time, he was not sent to Hel," the god spat out harshly. Steve took a step away from Loki in surprise. _Remind me never to get on his bad side_, he thought to himself.

The other god in the group nodded. "Very well," Thor agreed, much louder than the rest of them. "I believe it is customary to count to three in this realm. One - "

"Three!" Tony shouted, leaning back and sending the full force of his arc reactor chest piece at Schmidt.

Steve bunched up his leg muscles, sights set on the Skull, who had managed to avoid Tony's blast.

_This time would be different._

With that in mind, Steve leaped forward, ready to finish what he started over seventy years ago.


	18. Chapter Sixteen

**Chapter Seventeen**

The Red Skull was like a freaking gymnast, which only added to his weirdness factor; in Tony's humble opinion, men were not supposed to publicly show that they were that flexible. It disturbed other men, and turned women off (a lesson Tony had learned the hard way at a young age... college had been an awkward time).

So, basically, every time the Red Skull did a graceful backflip out of Tony's line of fire, he went up in creeper-ness. On a scale of 'Mr. Bean' to 'Rumplestiskin/Mr. Gold from _Once Upon a Time_', he was right around 'pedo-stache' and climbing fast.

Growling in frustration, Tony held out his hand and sent another blast towards the Nazi. The Skull easily avoided it, and twirled away... straight into Steve's shield.

Right then, Tony had a fanboy moment. When he saw Steve's face contort with anger as he lifted up a fist, Iron Man knew right then and there that he would finally get to see Captain America, up close and personal, in action. He had to fight an undignified squee from escaping his lips.

He did, however, let out a whoop when Steve 'socked ole Skull on the jaw'.

The Skull, who should have gone flying backwards at the force of the blow, simply staggered back. With a malicious grin, he threw a punch of his own. Steve landed on his butt, blinking rapidly.

Tony knew what would happen next. The Skull would go in for the final blow, and Steve, too stunned to do anything about it, would meet his end. Well, maybe Tony was being a bit overdramatic, but the Skull would hit Steve, and it would hurt like hell. That much was for sure.

No, it wasn't. Not if Tony had anything to say about it. And, being Tony effing Stark, he did.

A bolt of power coming from his feet, Tony leveled out and propelled himself like a rocket at the Skull. He collided with him, and intertwined, the two of them sailed off of the balcony.

With a crunching noise, they crashed into the opposite wall. The impact sent Tony's power flickering. The beeping noise that indicated low power started going off, and he cursed to himself. Now was _not _a good time to have low batteries!

The Red Skull recovered quicker than Tony did. He stumbled to his feet, sneering slightly. After producing a pistol from his belt, he looked down at Iron Man with blazing yellow eyes. "Any last vords?"

"Yeah." Tony grinned as a blonde, shiny blur came into view. "Just one: boom."

The other man's confused look was answered by bolt of lightning sent his way.

The Skull went flying over Tony's head, smoking dangerously from the blast. Thor stepped into view, wielding that hammer of his, and beaming like a complete ido... _No_, Tony reminded himself. _These are your teammates. Even if they aren't as smart as you, and none of them are, you can't call them idiots. To their faces._

"Son of Howard!" Thor cried, extending a large hand. "Your science has served you well. I am most impressed by your suit."

"Thanks," Tony replied, a bit annoyed. Of course his suit was impressive. It was a flying, iron suit. How was that not impressive?

Thor's eyes grew wide, and he opened his mouth in such a panicked way that Tony got nervous. The billionaire whirled around, only to find the Red Skull, mid-swing, aiming for his head.

And then an arrow sprouted from his face, and the German stumbled backwards. Snapping his head back around, Tony found Clint on a catwalk, bow drawn, giving him a thumbs up.

When a strangled noise sounded form behind him, Tony turned once more. What he saw was borderline hilarious, very satisfying, and even a little bit arousing: the Black Widow had her legs wrapped around the Skull's neck, and was slowly strangling him.

"The Cube!" a voice sounded in the distance. Tony quickly placed the British accent as Loki's. "I've found it!" The god sounded absolutely ecstatic.

Johann Schmidt did not seem to share Loki's enthusiasm. Letting out an angry cry, he hurled Natasha off of him and into the wall. Then, with one final glare at all of them, he leapt up into the darkness and out of sight.

Tony had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

The blast had left almost all of Carter's right side completely useless. She could barely open her hand, much less swing her arm around, both of which were gestures that were necessary while trying to throw her force-fields. Instead, she awkwardly lobbed them at the army with her left arm, completely embarrassed by how far (or not so far) they went.

Fortunately, she didn't get the opportunity to get in many shots. Her way was blocked by Bruce's thick green tree-trunk of a leg. The Hulk stood protectively in front of her, picking up cars and hurling them into the fray like it was nothing. Every time Carter tried to step out from behind him, he waved her back with huge, flailing arms that she was eager to avoid getting hit by. So instead of fighting, she hid comfortably behind her personal bodyguard and helped out whenever she saw an opening.

Carter sensed something bad as soon as Bruce stiffened. Then, he lowered himself into a crouch and let out a growl that not only did a number on her eardrums, but also filled her with a sense of dread. Because that was the same kind of growl a cornered dog would let out. A scared, cornered dog. If the Hulk was that worried...

Trying to be as ninja as possible, Carter leaned out from behind Bruce. Almost immediately, she wished she could shrink back, but she couldn't. It was sort of like watching a car crash - it was horrible, and you knew it, but you just couldn't stop looking.

And that was what watching the giant alien tank advance was like.

Carter felt her eyes widen as the thing approached. It was probably twice Bruce's (current) size, and you could probably shove him down the barrel, no problem. Alien soldiers flanked it, marching as one, gun held at attention. Her heart started hammering away as the barrel raised upwards, locking on a new target: them.

Everything seemed to happen at once after that. The tank's gun exploded with a bright blue light. The explosion headed their way, the mere force of it overturning cars and lampposts as it went. This was it. This was the end.

Suddenly, Carter was batted back with such strength that the wind was knocked out of her and several ribs cracked. The Hulk had slung his arm around, trying to push her back behind him. Trying to protect her.

Pain barely registered as Carter slammed into something very hard behind her before everything went black.

* * *

Hulk spun around so that his back was facing the blast. He wrapped his arms around the girl, shielding her entirely. A burning sensation took over him as the bomb hit him, but he didn't move or let it affect him in anyway.

Once the flames had died down and the pain had stopped, he released the girl and took a step back, only to find that she was not there. Confused, he looked around for her. _Carter_, an inner voice reminded him. Hulk liked Carter.

There was no sign of Carter. Except for...

_NO!_

A mound of debris from a falling building was off to the side. In an instant, something deep, deep down inside of Hulk told him that that was where she was. Buried underneath all the ruble.

_Find her! _a voice inside his head shouted desperately. _Find her! _

The Hulk lumbered forward as quickly as he could, spurred on by a feeling he couldn't quite place, by a voice that was not his own. With meaty hands, he lifted a chunk of rock up from the pile and launched it in the general direction of his enemies. When there was nothing to be found there, he did the same thing with another slab of stone. And again and again until...

Shock. Someone else's shock was all he could feel. With one hand, he reached down and scooped up the girl's limp form as gently as he could, before setting her down on the ground.

Numb. He couldn't feel anything now as he looked down at her bloody and bruised face, her broken body. Limbs stuck out at all the wrong angles, and she did not move. Carefully, he reached out and touched her face, surprised by how warm and soft it still was. Carter did not respond to his touch. She didn't respond at all. She was numb, too.

Anger unlike anything the Hulk had every experienced tore through him, coming from a place buried deep inside of him. With a roar of despair and hatred and sorrow, a roar that was not his own, he whirled around on the army, eyes flashing dangerously.

That metal monster. That's what had done this to her. Narrowing his eyes at the thing, the Hulk charged forward, knocking down anything and everything that entered his path. Aliens fell, trampled underneath him. Some he had to smack out of the way, but he didn't care. He was driven by anger. And no one liked him when he was angry.

Nearly twenty feet away now, the Hulk leaped up into the air, sights set on the tank. As he brought his fists down, he screamed, "_HULK SMASH!_"

The _real _beast crumpled underneath him. Still not satisfied, still fueled by his anger, the Hulk picked up the remains and crumpled it up into a ball. With another roar, he sent it at the remaining troops, most of which were instantaneously smashed.

The survivors were next.

* * *

The Cosmic Cube was even more powerful than Loki remembered it to be. It drew him to it like a moth to flame, just as before, but this time, the god knew better; moths got burned if they weren't careful.

Loki approached the Cube warily, circling it like a lion circles its prey. Lips pressed together, he frowned in concentration. He could think of only one way to harness the power of the Cube. And it didn't end well for him.

His train of thought was interrupted by the clanging of metal, the smacking of boots on the catwalk, and Stark shouting, "Demented Voldemort, twelve o'clock!"

Loki glanced up to see the Red Skull, the very beast that had thought it wise to injure him, rushing forward, a positively mad look in his eyes. In an instant, the god knew what he had to do.

He reached forward and grabbed the Cube with both hands, holding on for dear life.

A pinwheel of colors burst before his eyes, and his senses went haywire as he was filled with the Cube's magic. Power coursed through every fiber of his being. He could taste it on his tongue, hear it drumming in his ears. Never before had he experienced something so... magical. Never before had he experienced something so frightening.

He was reminded of his mission when the Skull let out an anguished snarl and latched on to the other end of the Cube.

Power rushed away from Loki, trying to get to the other possible user. _No. _That could not happen. Loki would not allow it. Growling in frustration and determination, Loki fought to regain control.

An image of a place so barren and gray that it was depressing just to look at it filled his mind. Niflheim. Hel. The land of the dead, the place of no return. The undiscovered country. That was where they were headed. That was where Loki would send them.

Another image took its place. One of shinning cities, glorious gardens, and people so fair and perfect that they had to be gods. And they were, for the Red Skull had replaced the picture of Hel with one of Asgard. Everything clicked for Loki then; the Skull would try to send them to Asgard. Everything, himself, Loki, and his army would appear before the golden realm. And then the Skull would burn it to the ground.

Not if Loki had his way.

Gritting his teeth, he wrestled to regain the power. As his whole body began to feel like it was on fire, Loki knew he was winning. The two destinations flashed before his eyes, Hel more often than Asgard, and Midgard been to spin out of focus around him. The chamber grew dim and fuzzy, and Loki felt the power ripping him apart.

He was sure of his victory when the Skull let out a cry of defeat.

As Midgard began to disappear completely, he swore he saw Lily, standing just ahead of him, a look of horror on her face.

At least his last memory would be of her.


	19. Chapter Seventeen

**Chapter Seventeen**

Smoke swirled around Loki's feet as he sat on a large rock. The rock was gray - just like everything else in this godforsaken place. The dirt was gray, the sky was gray, the lone dead trees were gray. Even his skin was beginning to look a little ashy.

He could hear the voices of the dead as though they were whispering in his ear, but when he looked, there was no one as far as the eye could see. Hel was expansive, that was for sure, but Loki thought that he would have run into at least one other lost soul by now. There was nothing.

Discouraged, Loki put his head in his hands. His mind wandered back - back to everything he had ever done. Back to the memories he had fought hard to suppress. This was probably going to be the worst part of death - being alone with nothing but his thoughts and memories.

Crunching gravel alerted Loki to someone behind him. The god twisted his body around, half expecting to see the Skull, seeking revenge. Instead, he saw his sister-in-law approaching, a confused look on her face. Loki was startled to see how pale she looked, almost translucent. Actually, she _was _translucent. Her form flickered slightly before settling back into an almost solid state.

"Where are we?" Carter asked, raising an eyebrow. "What is this place?"

Loki turned all the way around to face her. After crossing his legs in a most regal manner, he replied, "We are in Niflheim."

"Ah, Niflheim," she said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "The place where landscapers fear to tread."

"Oh, there are landscapers in this world," Loki informed her, matching her tone. "This is the undiscovered country, the land of no return. This is Hel, dear sister, the realm of the dead."

Carter's eyes, once bright and vibrant, widened. "And...?"

Her unfinished question hung in the air, weighing down on the both of them. But Loki was still a prince, and he was not about to let a mere mortal know how much it affected him. He sat up a little straighter. "I am dead," he told her plainly. Then, raising an eyebrow at her slowly solidifying form, continued, "You are dying."

"Oh." Carter flickered again, becoming entirely solid for a moment before returning to her ghostly state. Her face went completely slack, and she let out a long sigh. After running a hand through her thick brown hair, she strode over to the rock where Loki sat and joined him there. "That sucks."

"Indeed," Loki agreed, smiling slightly. In that moment, he was reminded of the eight-year old Carter McIntyre. Although annoying and insufferably overconfident, the young child had been fairly amusing. She was _still _fairly amusing. But would she still grate on his nerves?

Only time would tell. And judging by Carter's fleshy appearance, they would more than enough time. All the time in the room, actually. They would be stuck here forever, never to see the ones they loved again... _Never to see Lily again._

Loki's whole heart began to hurt as he thought of his wife. He had treated her horribly, and now he would never get to make up for it. He would never get to see their child grow up. There were so many things he would never get to do.

"Does it pain you?" he asked suddenly, turning to face Carter. She gave him a curious look. "Does it pain you to know you will never see him again?" Loki clarified. "The man you sat next to at the meeting earlier?"

Carter let out a strangled noise, her form flickering lightly again. "I don't know that," she replied quietly, not looking at him. "I'm not dead yet, right? I may... I may not die. I may get to see him again. I have to hold on to that. Giving up... I can't give up on that. On him."

"Wise words," Loki admitted almost grudgingly. For a moment, he wished to be in her position. She was right; she still had hope. He had none. There was no chance of him -

Next to him, Carter jerked violently before completely disappearing. Loki stared, wide-eyed, at the spot where she had been just a moment ago.

As quickly as she had left, she returned, coughing and spluttering. Now she was completely solid, completely there. But with another seizure-like occurrence, she disappeared. Loki recognized that movement; anyone who had been struck by Thor's lightning was subject to that spasmodic motion.

Although he waited, she did not return. Loki found himself alone with his thoughts once again.

Suddenly, a light shone through the fog. Tilting his head to the side ever so slightly, Loki examined it, searching for it's source. It appeared to be coming from... was that a doorway? Curious now, Loki rose and strode towards it. A smirk crossed his face as he remembered an old mortal saying.

_Don't go towards the light._

He sensed magic coming from the door, but nothing sinister. It was a warm kind of magic. Asgardian magic if he remembered correctly. He could feel a trace of Heimdall, a bit of Thor, and even some of the All-Father. What the blazes was going on?

Now mere feet from the door, Loki paused. Was this some sort of trick? What was behind the door, what awaited him?

_Thor would not have hesitated_, he thought to himself. _Thor would be on the other side of that door by now._

Deciding that he could only gain, Loki stepped through it.

* * *

Carter gasped, sucking in as much fresh air she could. Her lungs ached as they expanded. Actually, everything ached. She felt like someone had put her into a meat-grinder, and then flattened her out with a rolling pin. And that was just her body; her head felt a thousand times worse.

The world around her was blurry and seemed to be spinning. It was like looking at things from underwater, and you where just below the surface. She could just make out what was happening.

Someone with a really stupid looking mass of fur around his mouth leaned down over her, as if examining their handiwork. "She's breathing!" Tony exclaimed, now grinning like a complete fool. "Hey! Hey, Carter!" He waved a hand in front of her face. "Can you hear me?"

"No," she replied. Or at least she was pretty sure she did. Her mouth was numb, and she couldn't tell if any sound had come out. Darkness began to creep around the edge of vision.

_Bruce_. Where was he? Why wasn't he the one with her now? He should be here. He _would _be here, unless...

"Bruce." This time, she could make out her own muffled voice. "What ha..." Her mouth couldn't form the words. She needed something simpler. "He... OK? Where...?"

Carter couldn't quite tell, but it looked like Tony's face darkened slightly. He said something to her, but the sound was lost. In fact, her vision was so hazy now that she couldn't even read his lips. But he'd said something about Bruce. And she needed to know what had happened to him. She needed to know if he was OK.

She was slipping back into the darkness now; she could feel the cold reclaiming her once again. "Bruce," she repeated desperately. "Bruce..."

Then, everything faded once again and she fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

_Bruce glanced behind him again, trying to make sure no one had seen him. The hospital wing of Stark Tower _looked _empty, but you could never really be sure about anything when it came to Tony. Deciding that the coast was clear, Bruce cracked open the door and slipped inside, closing it gently behind him._

_The only noise in the room was the steady, reassuring beating of the heart-rate monitor. Bruce's eyes followed the cord down to the arm of the person it was hooked up to. Then, they traveled further upward, until they finally reacher the face. Carter's battered and beautiful face. _

_Despair filled him as he tentatively stepped forward. _He _had done this. He had done this to her, and then he had ran. Without meaning to, he glanced down at his stolen '_I 3 NY' _t-shirt that he'd gotten from an overturned and abandoned cart. He hadn't even bothered to go and find real clothes; he'd been too focused on running. _

_He wasn't brave enough to face her. _

_He wasn't strong enough to tell her that he was sorry, or that it was all his fault. He could barely look at her without his stomach twisting into knots - because _he _had caused her this much pain. _

_Another step forward, and the bruises became clearer. It didn't help that her already pale face was caught in the moonlight; that combination made them stand out clearer. The closer he got, the more damage he could see. There were stitches on her forehead, and one particularly nasty looking one underneath one of her eyes. _You did this to her. It's your fault.

_His heart began to beat faster as guilt and anger rushed through him. He was always looking for someone to blame - and, as always, it was his fault this time. No one but him had done this. No one but him was responsible. That's why he had to leave. _

_Bruce closed his eyes and took in several deep, calming breaths. A sickly sweet smell reached his nose, and his eyes flashed open. The rose. He glanced down to his hand. In it, he clutched a single red rose and a crumpled up napkin. _A note_, he reminded himself._ It's a note. An explanation. An apology. A good-bye.

_He didn't want to leave. Didn't want to have to explain, didn't want to have to apologize. But he had to._

_Bruce placed the note and the rose on the nightstand by Carter's hospital bed, trying not to knock anything over as he did. He turned to look at her one last time, and stopped short. He couldn't bear the thought of leaving now. With one hand, he reached out and gently brushed her face._

_Carter inhaled sharply, and Bruce froze, afraid he'd been caught. But Carter just gave him a little sleepy smile, then turned over, mumbling to herself. _

Phew. _That had been close. Bruce backed up slowly, trying to get himself to look away from her bruised face._

_One last fleeting glance and he was gone._

* * *

As hard as he tried, Bruce couldn't get that last image of Carter, so weak and damaged out of his mind. That picture would haunt him forever, he was sure.

But the fact that he had hurt her... that wasn't what bothered him the most. What really got to him was that he could easily do it again. That was why he was leaving. An open backpack was set out at his feet, papers and notebooks bulging out of it, along with a barely visible box of Zone bars. He was ready to go, but there was something stopping him.

Bruce twirled the needle filled with toxic green gamma around in his hand absentmindedly. Who was to say that he wouldn't hurt someone else, somewhere else? Who was to say that he would never hurt Carter again, even if he _did _distance himself from her? He wasn't protecting anyone from leaving - he was just running again. Like always.

_"You've never done anything in your life! Instead of facing your problems, you run! What kind of a man does that?_"

Anger coursed through Bruce as he recalled Fury's words. The harshness was in the truth - when did he ever act? There was always all this running and drafting and planning... but when did he ever go through with his plans? When did he ever _do _anything?

"Right now," he growled to himself through gritted teeth.

With that, Bruce plunged the needle into his skin.

* * *

_Dear Carter,_

_I will never be able to make up for what I've done. I will never be able to tell you how sorry I am. I will never be able to express how guilty I feel, how responsible I know I am. This is all completely and entirely my fault. And I will never forgive myself._

_That's why I'm leaving. I can't stand the thought of ever hurting you again. If I stayed, I know I would. The next time could be worse than the first - and I don't think I could live with myself if that happened. I don't know what I would do if I lost you - and I would tear myself apart if I was the reason you were gone._

_I love you._


	20. Chapter Eighteen

**Chapter Eighteen**

Loki stumbled through the doorway, blinded temporarily by the pure white light. A blast of fresh air hit him, followed by something much more solid. And warm. Whatever it was, it was so _warm_...

Blinking rapidly, Loki looked down to see a mass of red hair nuzzled up against his chest. His heart swelled up as he wrapped his arms around his wife. This couldn't be real. It simply wasn't possible.

It felt real though. _She _felt real. She was solid, and stable, and the only thing he was sure of. Yes, she was here. But... how?

Loki's jaw nearly dropped when he glanced upward. The high arched ceilings, the pristine marble floors, the golden walls were all so familiar to him that he almost immediately recognized this place. To confirm his guess, he looked over to his right. Sure enough, the thrones of Asgard sat up above the rest of the chamber.

"Brother!" Loki turned again to see Thor, beaming at him. The god of thunder crossed over to him and clapped him on the back. "You certainly gave us a scare! We feared that we would not have enough magic to bring you back."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "We?"

Thor just smiled and glanced over his shoulder. Loki followed his brothers gaze, and was bombarded by a slew of mixed emotions at what he saw.

There stood his mother and father. Only, they weren't _really _his mother and father. They were 'adoptive' parents, as the mortal would say. Frigga's face, which was covered in tears, burst into a smile, and the queen rushed forward. Nearly tackling Loki, she latched onto him, pressing him and Lily closer together. "My son," she murmured. "Oh, my son! I thought I had lost you."

"I am here, Mother," Loki assured her. He lifted one hand off of Lily to stroke Frigga's hair, a comforting gesture that she used to do to him when he was smaller.

"My son. You have returned to Asgard." Odin, not smiling or crying like the rest of them, took a small, calculated step forward. His one blue eye shown with some that had never been directed at Loki before now: pride. The All-Father put his hands behind his back. "You have saved Midgard and this realm. For that, I must thank you."

Loki swallowed hard, taken back by his father's kind words. Never once had Odin praised Loki. "I - I... You're welcome, Father." Then, frowning, he asked, "How is it that I am here? Was I not dead, left to rot in Hel?"

Odin winced at Loki's somewhat sarcastic tone. "We opened a doorway between the two realms. You sacrificed yourself to save Midgard. You... deserved a second chance." Odin said the last part almost reluctantly. Then, under his breath, added, "At least, that is what the women in this family believe."

"Mother?" Loki asked, cocking his head to the side. Surely, his mother knew that he was a monster. Surely she had been apart of Odin's scheme to use Loki. Had she truly advocated for him?

Frigga looked at her youngest son with shiny eyes, giving him a watery little laugh. "I have been begging your father to find you ever since you fell from the Bifrost. It was your lovely new wife who was able to change his mind."

Upon hearing her title, Lily looked up from Loki's chest. Her large blue eyes were rimmed red, and her nose was an adorable pink shade. She'd been crying - for him. With an almost mischievous little grin, she reached up and tucked a stray strand of hair back into place. "Your dad was more than willing to help you when I told him I was pregnant."

"Hmph," Odin grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. "Perhaps this time you will give me an attractive grandchild."

"Odin!" Frigga scolded, leaving Loki's side to go smack her husband upside the head. "Loki has provided us with wonderful grandchildren! Think! What would you do without Sleipnir?"

The King of Asgard gave Frigga a look that Loki translated as _I would not feel awkward every time I rode my horse_. Instead of saying that, Odin stiffened and nodded. "Yes. Sleipnir is a wonderful steed. I am also particularly fond of Jörmungandr, the giant snake destined to bring about Ragnarök."

Frigga's eyes grew wide and she opened her mouth to respond (or rather yell), but was cut off by Lily.

"What's Ragnarök?" she asked curiously, looking around at all of the Odinsons with wide innocent eyes.

"Never you mind, dear," Frigga said with a kind smile. She was undoubtedly trying to keep Lily from believing that she may give birth to a monster who would one day be the end of the world. "It's just a silly story we Aesir like to tell out children."

Speaking of Ragnarök... Loki turned to the All-Father, eyebrows drawn together and a frown on his face. "Father... if it was possible for you to retrieve me from Hel, would it be possible for anyone to do so? I was not the only one there. An enemy, a great enemy and his army, also reside there now. Would it be possible - ?"

"No," Odin said firmly. "We called upon the power of Yggdrasil, the tree of life, to bring you back. No one else could harness enough magic to upon another portal into that realm. I assure you, there is no chance that this enemy will ever return."

* * *

Tony leaned forward, squinting slightly. Hadn't Carter had stitches under her eye yesterday? Yeah. He was pretty sure. Now it just looked like a fading scar. He moved into closer, no inches away form her face.

"You have three seconds to get the hell off me, Tony," a groggy voice warned.

Tony leapt back, hands immediately going up in surrender. "I'm off, I'm off. Oh, hey! You're awake!"

Carter's eyes fluttered open, wincing as they met the bright lights. Now, _that _was something Tony understood - he was actually wearing sunglasses to protect his eyes right now. Not that he was hungover or anything. He'd just woken up this morning after a party he couldn't quite remember with a headache that was probably going to kill him. But he wasn't hungover.

"How'd you know it was me?" Tony asked, settling back in his chair.

Carter just gave him a look. "You smell like tequila."

A little guiltily, Tony glanced down at the bottle in his hand. Was it that obvious? He'd only had, like, half of it.

"Where's Bruce?" Carter asked suddenly, fixing Tony with a hard stare. Oh, boy. He was gonna need some more alcohol for this.

Tony took a quick swig, before wiping his mouth and attempting a casual shrug. "He, uh, left."

"What?" She struggled to lift herself out of bed. "What do you mean he left?" If she'd been drinking water, she probably would have done a spit take.

"Yeah, he left you a note and some flowers."

"And you _read _this note?"

Uh-oh. Tony knew that tone. That was the tone Pepper used whenever he bought her a box of strawberries, or forgot about a meeting, or blew-up a national monument (_One time_, and she'd never let it go!). With another sip of tequila, Tony nodded. "Yeeeeaaah. Should not I have?"

"Is there anything in the Bro Code about killing fellow bros?" Carter narrowed her eyes threateningly at him.

"Um, not specifically," Tony replied, edging away from her. "But there's a law against murdering people, so..."

Carter snorted unhappily, but didn't lunge at him or anything. "Can I see the note?"

Tony handed her the crumpled up Starbucks napkin, and even though she didn't ask for it, the red rose. Deciding that, since the not had been kind of personal, he should leave her by herself, he stood and walked towards the door. Before leaving though, he turned back and said, "Hey, we're having a party in the main atrium later tonight. If you're feeling better, you should come."

Without looking up from the note, Carter nodded. "OK."

* * *

Lily could not be happier.

Here she was, strolling through the gardens of _Asgard_, with her husband by her side. The same husband that she'd thought she'd lost.

But he was here now, his long arm wrapped around her waist. The moon shown down on the gardens, lighting the way. Some of the more magical plants seemed to glow a luminescent shade. Loki had picked one for her earlier and placed it in her hair.

"I am sorry," he told her, breaking the comfortable silence. "I hope you realize that."

She twisted in his grasp and smiled up at him. God, he was beautiful. Not like Thor - it was more subtle. A regal, plainer beauty. His deep emerald eyes looked down at her in earnest. "I know," she whispered back.

"And I hope you realize that I will do everything in my power to make it up to you."

"Oh, I _know_," she laughed, grinning hugely. "You have a _long _way to go before I fully forgive you. I see a lot of massages and pedicures in your future."

Loki took her small hand in his and brought it up to his lips. "For you, love, anything."

Lily opened her mouth to reply, but gasped instead. A sharp pain had come from her lower abdomen. Then again.

"Dear?" Loki's voice was full of worry. "Are you alright?"

"I - I'm fine," she said in a small voice. "But I think... I think my water broke."

Loki gave her an odd look. "Water cannot break. A cup holding water, perhaps, but you do not have a glass."

"No, Loki, not _that _kind of water." A little smile crossed her face. "The baby's coming."

* * *

If she'd been paying attention, Carter would have said that the most amazing part of Tony's We're-not-dead! Party was Thor dancing to _Shots_, and Steve wincing every time a bad word was said (the looked like he was having muscle spasms). She also would have laughed at Clint's failing attempts to get girls.

Instead, she ducked and weaved through the crowd, trying to get to the door on the opposite side of the room without anyone important noticing her.

"Carter!" Tony's slurring voice called. Mentally hitting herself for being faster, Carter turned around, a fake grin on her face. "Heeeey, wingman!" Tony cried, coming up through the crowd. Behind him, he dragged a pretty red-headed woman. "Carter, I want you to meet Pepper. Pepper, this is my wingperson, Carter."

Pepper looked almost embarrassed by Tony's drunk behavior. Still, she smiled politely. "Nice to meet you."

"You, too." Then, deciding that Tony was probably going to need some help, Carter added, "You're Tony's girlfriend, right? He talks about you all the time."

"I do?" Tony asked, looking incredulously at her. When she shot him a very pointed glare, his bloodshot eyes got really big, and he turned back to Pepper with a huge grin on his face. "I do! Alllll the tiime!"

Pepper rolled her eyes, sending Carter a small smile. "Thanks for trying."

"Figured it was worth a shot," she replied. "What are 'wingpeople' for, right?"

"Exactly!" Tony cried, stumbling forward. Pepper reached out and caught him before he could fall flat on his face, but Tony seemed completely unaffected. "One f-for all and for all one! Wait..."

Carter gave Pepper a skeptical look. "You know the recovery position, right?"

"Oh, yes," she said tiredly. "Both of us are experts when it comes to that area. But only one of us has hands-on."

"I won't be needing any hands-on tonight!" Iron Man declared holding his fist up in the air. "I've only had thirteen shots and three beers!"

"And that bottle of tequila."

Tony nodded, satisfied, at Carter. "And that bottle of tequila!"

Carter face-palmed. Then, shaking her head and smiling slightly, she said, "Good luck with him."

"Thanks, I'll need it," Pepper laughed back.

Taking that as her cue to leave, Carter slipped back into the crowd. After nearly tripping over a very drunk SHIELD tech-guy and almost running into Coulson, she found herself right in front of the exit. Sighing in relief, she reached for the door handle.

A hand landed on her shoulder, making her jump and turn around. There was Tony, giving her a concerned look. "Where ya goin'?"

"Africa." Carter adjusted the backpack she'd filled with clothes and food, waiting for Tony to either tell her off, say she was lying, or do something only a drunk Tony Stark would do.

He went with the drunk option. "OK, then." He started rooting through his pockets, muttering something unintelligible as he did. Then, whipping out a wallet, he smiled smugly and handed it to her.

Carter stared at it. "What's this for?"

"Well, you're gonna need _money_," he said in the same way you'd say, _'The sky is blue_'. "They use money in Africa, you know."

When she didn't say anything, he continued, "You're going after him, right? Bruce? You know where he is, don't you?"

"Yeah," Carter replied. "I think I know... the first time we talked, he said he'd always wanted to go... Why are you doing this, Tony?"

"You're my wingperson. We back each other up, even if you _did _threaten to kill me this morning. So here's my wallet. And a cellphone." He handed her a sleek black Stark Phone.

Carter took him in. He was still swaying dangerously, still reacting slower than usual. "Are you gonna remember this in the morning?"

"Probably not, but I asked JARVIS to remind me that I'd given you some cash so I wouldn't freak out and think I was robbed."

Pressing her lips together, Carter let a pleasant, warm feeling take over her. Tony was looking out for her; it'd been years since someone had taken a genuine interest in her well-being. She stepped forward and pulled Tony into a big hug.

"Woah, there," Tony laughed. "You're going to find your boyfriend, remember?"

Rolling her eyes, Carter pulled away and gave him one last grin. Then, with a lazy, two-fingered salute, she pushed open the door and started on her way.


	21. Epilogue

**Epilogue **

Just like always, the flash of bright green caught his eye. And just he had everyday for the past two weeks, Bruce stopped and stared into the antic jewelry store window. Around him, people passed by, some knocking into him, but he didn't really notice; he was too preoccupied with the little pair of earrings that had caught his eye since the first day.

They were the least intricate piece in the window. The others shone with the diamonds South Africa was famous for, as well as the deep rubies and sapphires from neighboring nations. All of them were set in solid gold, and priced at ridiculously high rates.

The earrings were different. Smaller than the rest, they were set in silver, and were placed in the corner of the display, as if the owner of the shop was ashamed to have to put them out with the fancier pieces. They didn't come from some precious gem; they were plain peridots.

And they were the exact same brilliant green as Carter's eyes.

Bruce winced. Just thinking about her made his whole chest ache. After all he'd done to her, the pain he'd put her through... she probably hated him. And here he was, still hopelessly in love.

'Love sick' used to be a phrase he scoffed at. Love wasn't a disease. It didn't have a cure. It was a state of mind, nothing more, nothing less. There was no way it could physically affect you (well... yeah, OK, there were _some _ways...). Scientifically speaking, love itself couldn't do anything to you.

_That was probably the single most false statement you have ever made_, Bruce thought to himself.

Looking at his reflection made _that _clear enough. Dark circles underneath his eyes were an obvious indicator that he'd been loosing sleep. He felt tired and empty - just his facial expression alone could tell you that. Frowning at how messed up it looked, Bruce ran a hand through his hair. He'd actually managed to remember to brush it this morning - how'd it get so messed up so fast?

With a sigh and once last glance at the peridot earrings, he turned back into the flow of the crowd, heading back to his new apartment.

Almost immediately, he did a double take. He looked back to the shop window, squinting at what he was sure was just a figment of his imagination. The earrings were in the other, lower corner. There was no way that there could be -

But there it was. In the upper area of the window, he could just make out a vibrant green color, reflecting on the glass. Heartbeat racing, he whirled around.

There she was. Looking at him. Just looking at him like nothing had happened. Heart pounding, stomach turning, Bruce shut his eyes. No. This couldn't be real. She wouldn't come for him, not after everything that happened. He was just imaging things. He'd finally lost, and when he opened his eyes, she'd be gone.

No. Carter was still there. She was real, not just something he'd conjured up. Her head tilted slightly to the side, she gave him a small, guarded smile.

Before he even realized what was happening, Bruce's feet carried him forward. With more athletic ability than he'd shown in his entire life, he darted out into the middle of the road, dodging cars and stray pedestrians as he did. Carter rushed forward to meet him.

They two of them collided, immediately getting tangled up in each other's arms. Bruce took in a deep, shaky breath, pulling her in closer. "What are you doing here?" he muttered into her mess of hair. Mmm. She still smelled like coconuts.

"You threw me into a building and then left without apologizing in person," she laughed quietly, still not pulling away. If anything, she held on tighter. "What do you think I'm doing here?"

Guilt joined the other emotions swirling around inside of him. "I'm so sorry," he breathed. "I'm so sorry." Absentmindedly, he began stroking her hair. He couldn't get over the fact that she was here. And that, so far, she didn't seem to hate him.

Carter pulled back just enough so that she could look up at him. A crooked grin spread across her face, and her bright eyes lit up. "You'll have to do better than that," she teased.

_God, she's beautiful. _His eyes hungrily roamed her face, taking in as much as they could. Before he knew it, they'd locked in on her lips. On impulse, Bruce leaned in, pressing his lips to hers. Her mouth moved against his and -

Bruce jerked back. Looking away, he felt his face grow red. "I - I'm sorry," he stuttered. "I shouldn't have done that. I have no right to - "

He was silence by her lips against his. She leaned into him, weaving one hand through his hair. Responding just as enthusiastically, he pulled her closer, wanting more. She felt so good here pressed against him, it was almost like she fit there perfectly. Moaning slightly, Bruce deepened the kiss.

Carter ran one hand up his chest, stopping just above his heart. His heart. He'd almost forgot about it. It was beating so fast he was sure she could hear it. With a soft sigh, Carter broke away - but she left her hands on him.

"Sorry," she said in that same joking tone she always used. Putting just a bit more pressure on his chest, she added, "That was probably too much, wasn't it?"

With a start, Bruce realized that she was talking about his heart. No, it hadn't been too much; it'd been perfect. He loved the way it felt to have his heart race, to be left completely breathless. It was a thrill that he wasn't accustomed to, one he'd almost forgotten about. No more worrying about it. Only enjoying the oddly exhilarating sensation that came from feeling like you're heart was about to explode.

"Too much could never be enough."

He pulled her in again.


End file.
